Sorry it's been a while - I really don't know where the time has gone recently!!

After finishing 14th in Killarney it was time for our family summer holiday and we've all spent the last three weeks in Portugal which has been just fantastic. Alongside the obligatory rest and relaxation, I also took time to keep in shape in the gym and carry on with the rehab on my knee, which is now in perfect working order - thank goodness.

I'm now in Scotland at Gleneagles for the Johnnie Walker Championship and I'm really looking forward to the week - especially if the weather improves - it has been throwing it down with rain here for the last couple of days.

All eyes... MORE »

As always I thoroughly enjoyed the BMW PGA Championship at the newly renovated course at Wentworth.

I feel I played very well and chipped and putted very well but my competitive sharpness told as I didn’t make the most out of my scores each day.  However, I feel I am definitely heading in the right direction as I had my best finish so far since my operation and it was a really good stepping stone into the summer season ahead.

There was much talk last week about the new changes at Wentwoth and I look forward to seeing the tweaks that Ernie has spoken about that are needed. I think he will evaluate everything that happened last week and, in my view, will... MORE »

I have had two weeks off when I got the opportunity of checking on the progress of the golf course design in St Sofia, and you can see the latest images on the Course Design section on the website.  The pictures are of the two par three's on the front nine, and as you can see they are coming along nicely. 

I have also been practising and continuing with the rehab on my knee.  I travel to Ireland on Sunday morning to do a corporate day for Allianz on the Monday but beforehand I will be having a look at Portsalon GC in Donegal with a view to doing some small alterations there.

I resume playing next week in Mallorca, the first of four events in a row, which... MORE »

Firstly, many congratulations to young Rory McIlroy who produced excellent golf to claim the Quail Hollow Championship on Sunday for his first PGA Tour victory.

I have just returned from a few days away with the family and visited Montenegro which was a beautiful place to relax.  Part of my rehab regime is to play two weeks and then take two weeks off, so as to not overdo things and to allow my knee to continue to strengthen and recover.

I am off to Bulgaria tomorrow to visit St Sofia Golf Course, the course which I have re-designed.   All the work is now in full swing and many of the holes are looking great, so I am looking forward to seeing the results... MORE »

Last week in Morocco was my first tournament since Singapore at the end of last year, which was almost four months off, so my expectations were very low. The main goal really in Morroco was to play with no pain in my knee and I achieved that.

Although I missed the cut I was very pleased with the way I hit the ball, but my short game was poor and I struggled with the 'feel' on the greens, which is only to be expected after such a long lay-off. As much as you can practice putting on the carpet it's totally different when you're out there competing. So I worked on my putting over the weekend and I expect an improvement... MORE »

I spent Monday up with Bob Torrance after playing my first round of golf in America a couple of weeks ago.  My game is decent but I am still struggling with bunker shots and downhill lies.  All shots from a flat lie are great.

I am still very hopeful of playing in Morocco next week and will certainly play the Andalucía Open in Malaga the following week.  I will then take 3 weeks off and travel to China and Korea. 

My recovery from the knee operation last November has been long and slow as there was more damage to the knee than we had thought.  I am still working hard at the gym and receiving lots of physio and am doing my utmost to... MORE »

Happy New Year to everybody who has been visiting my website.  January normally means practice and an early trip to Dubai to do some practice in the sunshine before starting the schedule in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai.  This year it has been snow and rehabilitation on my knee. 

It is now nine weeks since I had my operation and I still haven't hit any golf shots.  I tried hitting a few pitch shots over Christmas with no success as the knee wasn't even strong enough for a minimal rotation involved in pitching.  However, the good news is I do feel I am very close and I have pencilled in a trip to Portugal next week to do some practice with... MORE »

My golf season finished in Singapore where I missed my second consecutive cut by one shot thereby concluding a very disappointing, frustrating and surprisingly bad year.  I finished 104th on the money list, my first time ever outside the top 100 and I am still trying to figure out why I had such a poor year results wise as I don’t feel my golf was of a very poor standard.  However,  the success or not of the year is very dependant on our big finishes of which I didn’t have any, in general as pro golfers on tour 90% of our prize money/world ranking position comes from 10% of our tournaments.  My biggest cheque this year was around €30,000 and it is very... MORE »

After The Vivendi Trophy I returned to play very well at the Dunhill finishing in 9th position, it’s a tournament I look forward to every year and this year was no exception.  It was great to be received as well as I was at the Dunhill by my peers - the Vivendi Trophy in Association with Seve obviously caught the imagination of all the players and public alike and I think it has a bright future.

I was looking forward to playing the following week in Madrid but had to pull out on the Wednesday to a recurrence of a tendon strain in the back of my left hand.  After a week of physio and MRI scans I was able to return... MORE »

After all the excitement of captaining the Great Britain and Ireland Team in the Vivendi Seve Trophy last week, I return to playing for myself at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship this week in Scotland.

I thoroughly enjoyed my captaincy last week although I have to admit I was very envious of my team as they played but it was an absolute pleasure for me to captain 10 players who were so excited about playing for me and listening to my ideas on team play during the week.

I have to say aside from being wonderful golfers, I was hugely impressed with the manner in which they all conducted themselves... MORE »

The last few months have been a struggle and it’s be a long summer where, although I seem to be making cuts, there has been no headway in terms of finishing positions.

September is a very busy month for me. I'm playing two tournaments and the honour of being Captain of the Great Britain And Irish team in the Vivendi Trophy.  Despite the fact that a number of our players will not be available, I still think our team will be strong enough to compete with the Europeans in a tournament that is played in the honour of Seve and all that he stands for in not just European golf but the whole golfing world.

all the best.........Paul

After a disappointing run up to the British Open I was still so delighted to be teeing off in the greatest event of the year.  I had 3 good rounds which put me in a great position for Sunday but, as has been the case most of the year, my score on Sunday didn’t reflect how solid I played and I dropped down the field.

I am now in the middle of a 4 week break, enjoying some family time.  Due to not being eligible to play in either event in the USA, WGC Bridgestone Invitational and the US PGA, I only missing 2 events on the European Tour.

I am looking forward to the next run of tournaments, starting next week... MORE »

It was a disappointing return to one of my favourite courses in Ireland, County Louth GC in Baltray, finishing tied 67th.  The good Irish weather did it's best to make the conditions difficult.

I felt I played really well and hit the ball solidly but my short game let me down and in those weather conditions you need your short game to be at its best.  I have been practising my chipping and bunker play in readiness for the next few weeks.  It was a great win and home story for Shane Lowry at the Irish Open and I wish him all the best for the rest of the year.

The BMW Championship at Wentworth was a busy week, and I really... MORE »

After four weeks away playing in China, Korea and Barcelona, I now take a week off before I play the next 4 events starting at the Irish Open next week.

I feel my game has been pretty good in the last month, and I don't feel I got the right results for the quality of golf played.  However, I am really looking forward to next four weeks, which concentrates on Ireland and the UK and covers courses where I've had success in the past. 

Next week I'm back for The Irish Open, which is played at County Louth GC in Baltray, a course where I played as a junior in the winter months.  I... MORE »

First of all Happy New Year to everyone. Sorry it's a bit late but I've been busy practising. I have returned from the Middle East after a very disappointing time on the golf course, where after a lowly finishing position in Abu Dhabi, I missed the cut in Qatar and Dubai (the first time in 17 years). The bottom line is I didn't play very well and have a lot of work to do on my game to turn things around which I am vigorously doing at the moment in the snow in the UK!!

I return to competitive golf at Pebble Beach next week, the AT&T Pro Am, where I am playing with Dermot Desmond, a tournament I have always really... MORE »

My season concluded last week at the World Cup in China where I partnered Graeme McDowell to finish in a disappointing 13th position after a very poor last round of 77.  We were in 5th place starting the last round and we were aware that a score of 63, which the Swedes produced, would have given us a strong chance to win.  However, our day went in the opposite direction with a poor start where I misread 2 relatively short putts in the first 3 holes.  We then took some gambles which didn't come off ending up with bogeys instead of birdies and a loss of momentum to finish among the also-rans.

I am now at home for a family Christmas... MORE »

The conclusion to my 2008 season on the European Tour finished last week in Valderrama, a course which of course holds some great memories for me!

My end of season report would be a very good and solid year, much improved on 2007, but still not playing to the high level that I did in 2005.  Overall I am very pleased with my consistency, leading the stroke average for most of the season as well as high up on greens in regulation and driving accuracy.

My putting remains an area that I need to improve upon.  Despite putting very consistently I didn't seem to have the 2 or 3 hot weeks a year that seems to be the difference between winning and... MORE »

After having to withdraw from last week's Portugal Masters due to my youngest daughter experiencing an unfortunate accident I have added this week, The Castello Masters, back on to my schedule.  I am travelling today so I can get an extra days practice in and am looking forward to the week.  I will then be playing at Valderrama next week and then my schedule will really depend upon where I finish in the Order of Merit.

After 2 disappointing weeks, where I finished down the field at the Belfry and missed the cut at Dunhill, I am taking a week off before I resume play in the Portuguese Masters next week.  I played very poorly at the Belfry and managed to get it around with some good short game but too many destructive shots caused me a poor finish.

I was hoping to have my game back in shape last week at the Dunhill after practising hard on Monday and Tuesday, but alas that was not the case as my game deteriorated along with the weather during the week!

I am very disappointed with my form over the last month as I haven't played a decent round since... MORE »

After a week off where I spent five days in the South of France with my wife, Ally, having a short holiday before the final events of the season, I feel refreshed and ready to go at this week's Quinn Insurance British Masters.

I practised on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday last week before my holiday but have really kept up with my fitness whilst I was there, doing a lot of swimming and power-walking along with stretching and very light gym work.

Like everybody else I was keeping an eye on the Ryder Cup at Valhalla whilst I was away and then watched it at length on Sunday evening when I got home. I feel very disappointed as a European that we... MORE »

After a very a good and positive performance in Holland finishing 2nd in the KLM Open, I moved on to Gleneagles where I felt I needed to win to stake my claim on a Ryder Cup pick.

Despite playing a lot of good golf, I came up short in order to get that Ryder Cup pick.  I got off to a bad start being 3 over on the 1st day, had a good 2nd day, despite having two unplayable lies in greenside bunkers which cost me double bogeys, making things difficult for me at the weekend.  I still managed to shoot 5 under par and finish tied 19th.

Like everyone else I was anticipating Darren Clarke to be one of the picks... MORE »

After a good top 10 performance last week I will be keeping my head down over the next 2 weeks and try to show some form to achieve some big finishes, which will keep my hopes alive of a very outside chance of making the Ryder Cup Team.

As I have been saying most of the year, my golf has been good , I am currently 2nd on the tour's stroke average, but I am still languishing down at 33rd on the Order of Merit due to the fact I haven't had any big finishes despite a number of top 10's. I feel I played well again last week but didn't turn my good golf into a good result. 

The next two... MORE »

I'm now in Akron for the WGC - Bridgestone Invitational at the stunning Firestone Country Club where on arrival my suitcase failed to appear! Luckily for me my golf clubs did - so courtesy of the local supermarket I embarked on my practice round in a 'straight out of the packet' pair of beige chinos and 'matching' red and black golf shirt!

The following day my caddie, Darren arrived, also with no luggage! So we definitely made a pretty pair! However, all is now resolved and we are properly dressed and ready for action.

The course is in fantastic condition and I'm really looking forward to the week after having had a few weeks off. The weather here is very warm and... MORE »

I find myself at a part of the season where I have 3 of the next 4 weeks off due to not being exempt for the British Open or the US PGA and the complications of trying to get from Russia (next week) to Akron in Ohio USA (the following week) for the WGC Bridgestone Invitational.  Therefore I am forced to sit 3 weeks out which is far from ideal!

Despite playing a lot of good golf and being high in the Order of Merit, not being exempt from the Majors has played havoc with my schedule.  In previous years my Ryder Cup status has given me Exemption for these tournaments.

I plan to resume playing on the European tour in the... MORE »

After a missed cut at St Omer, where I felt it was important for me to play to stay competitive, I returned to the tour last week in France at what is my favourite venue on tour, The Paris National.  I think the golf course is a wonderful testament to what can be achieved with creativity in course architecture and it is a venue that I hope will host a future Ryder cup.  It ticks all the boxes in terms of hosting such an event  

I played well all week without shooting low scores and then Sunday things went well for me as I shot a 65 and moved from 43rd to joint 7th.  

This week I tried... MORE »

After the disappointment of my 3rd round at Wentworth and then missing the cut by 1 shot in Wales the following week, I decided to withdraw from the Austrian Open to re-group therefore altering my schedule. 

As I had planned on taking the BMW week off, I had scheduled company days for that week which I now cannot alter.  So to avoid having a 3 week gap on the tour, I have looked for and received a late invite to play in St Omer, France this week.

Although it is not a tournament that will have a high number of full European Tour members playing, and the prize money is below the average on the European Tour, I feel the most important... MORE »

Obviously my finishing in a tie for 10th spot in the BMW PGA Championship is extremely disappointing after shooting rounds of 65 and 66 on the first two days and really putting myself in contention for the title.  

I was shattered after the 79 on Saturday and didn't understand where it came from. I looked back on my preparation which was spot on, I hit it great on the range and had a good night's sleep - it was all set up for a good day - it wasn't to be. There was also a stiff wind blowing and that didn't help matters much either.  

On Sunday I knew I had to shoot under par to keep my... MORE »

All in all I had a satisfactory week at the Irish Open and eventually finished in a tie for 16th spot. The course was in wonderful condition but the set up was incredibly difficult with the tee boxes having been moved and hitting long irons into hard fast greens. I was misquoted by the press who said that my comments on the course were less than favourable.

This was most definitely not the case and to show you all how good it was I've put a special Irish Open image file on my photo gallery so you can see for yourselves! These pics were taken by John Hort who caddies for Damien McGrane and he takes photos at all the events.

I... MORE »

I must start this week by congratulating my very good friend, Darren Clarke, on his fantastic win in the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai last week. All the hard work he has been putting in has really paid off and he is back where he belongs now, in the Winner's Enclosure. This win is a huge step for Darren and his family and I know this is the start of a great year for him.

After a 3 week break I feel like I played well in Seville despite a slow start.  I am now having a week off this week and am looking forward to the Irish Open next week, It's a great event and one that I would love... MORE »