Brooks Koepka's relentless pursuit of Major championships shows no signs of letting up in New York as the American opened his defence of the US PGA Championship with a course record 63 at Bethpage Black to take a one shot lead at seven under par. Koepka has captured three of the last seven Majors he has played in and is now well primed to make that four in eight despite not making birdie on either of the Par 5s yesterday. For Rory McIlroy it was a different story as a round which included 35 putts saw him fail to find a birdie until the very last hole as he signed for a 72 and two over par, nine adrift of the leader. Since his Masters heroics last month it was a first appearance for Tiger Woods and it proved to be a rather up-and-down experience as started with a double bogey, moved out to three over, got it back to one under but, in the end, also signed for a 72. As Philip Reid writes from Bethpage Black, it was a relief just to see Woods on the course after some rumours of health issues had been swirling around the media centre on Wednesday. For Graeme McDowell the chances of adding a second Major title to his trophy cabinet look very slim on a long, wet course which demands huge length off the tee but the Portrush man showed yesterday that there is more than one way to skin a cat as he plotted his way to a very impressive round of 70. Today, McIlroy gets underway at 1.13pm Irish time with Pádraig Harrington (who only managed a 75 yesterday) also among the early starters and you can follow it all on The Irish Times liveblog from 1pm.
On to rugby and the breaking news this morning is that Israel Folau has had his Rugby Australia contract terminated on the back of his controversial social media posts. In the last half an hour, RA chief executive Raelene Castle has said "Rugby Australia did not choose to be in the situation, but Rugby Australia's position remains that Israel, through his actions, left us with no choice but to pursue the course of action resulting in today's outcome. This has been an extremely challenging period for rugby. This issue has created an unwanted distraction in an important year for the sport and for the Wallabies team." Moving on, London Irish yesterday said that they have no concerns over the signing of Paddy Jackson who joins the English team after a stint in Perpignan following the termination of his contract with Ulster in the wake of last year's high-profile rape trial in which he and three others were acquitted. "We've got strict codes of conduct and obviously he'll have to adhere to the same code of conduct that we do off the field and on the field," London Irish boss Brian Facer said yesterday. This weekend the semi-finals of the Pro14 take centre stage with Ulster first up this evening against Glasgow in Scotstoun. It promises to be a difficult task for the Irish province but the return of Jacob Stockdale is sure to be a major boost for Dan McFarland's side. Tomorrow Leinster and Ulster will meet at the RDS for what will be a typically intense battle and this morning Matt Williams writes that it is an opportunity for both sides to restore some pride after their respective European disappointments. "At full-time on Saturday, one team will have a soothing balm, smoothed over a healing scar, and the other will have to deal with the reopening of a deep wound, after the scab has just been painfully ripped off," he writes.
In GAA Jackie Tyrrell looks at Waterford this morning and writes that he has concerns about how they will fare this summer. During last week's defeat to Clare, the Déise men looked to lack some pace. "I was sitting in the RTÉ studio in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday stuffing my face with Jelly Tots and watching Clare play Waterford on the screen in front of us. I asked myself the question – which of those two forward lines would I prefer to be playing against as a defender?" he writes. Tomorrow week Dublin get their championship season underway against Louth and, as expected, that is all the players are focusing on at the moment with Jonny Cooper yesterday refusing to be swayed into any notion of talking about the drive for five in a row. Asked how much five-in-a-row motivates him , Cooper responded emphatically with a single word. 'Zero'. Not even a little bit then? "I just have no interest in it, to be honest with you," said the five-time All-Ireland winner. No interest in thinking about winning five All-Irelands in a row, then. The Dubs sure know how to stay on script.
In football the latest news in the FAI saga is that former goalkeeper Noel Mooney is in line to take charge of the organisation. Although he would not get the CEO title, it seems that Uefa is about to entrust the former head of marketing and promotions with overseeing things at Abbotstown as they take a much more central role in funding the troubled organisation's day to day activities. Tonight the rivalry that has defined the last few seasons of the League of Ireland will be rekindled when Dundalk head to Turner's Cross to take on Cork City. The Lilywhites currently sit top on goal difference but they know that any slip-up at all will allow Shamrock Rovers the opportunity to move back to the top.
