Joe Callaghan

Toronto

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Sports Writer and Columnist at The (Toronto) Star

Roving sportswriter | Journalism lecturer @UL | Now: Ottawa/Toronto. Then: Sligo/Dublin/Melbourne/Rio/Glasgow | Lover of Sligo Rovers + dogs.

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Articles

'Pissed off' Rory McIlroy opens up on driver leak, weird PGA and post-Masters struggles

2 days ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe Callaghan

RORY McIlroy has hit out at how news of his driver failing a compliancy test at last month‚Äôs PGA Championship was ‚Äúleaked‚ÄĚ, admitting he was ‚Äúpissed off‚ÄĚ over how the situation was handled. Making his first appearance in front of a microphone for three weeks, McIlroy opened up ahead of this week‚Äôs RBC Canadian Open in Toronto.
Katie McCabe: 'I hope young girls in Ireland were watching. They can dream'

1 week ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe Callaghan

ARSENAL'S Katie McCabe took a moment to consider what it all meant, not just for Arsenal, who remain the only English club to win the women's Champions League, but her own history-making exploits and legacy. “I'm just so proud of what we have done as a team,” said McCabe. “We stopped one of the best front lines in the world going forward and we did it together. It was incredible. “We had belief from our comebacks (in the second legs against Real Madrid and Lyon in the last two rounds).
PGA Championship talking points: Silence culture, McIlroy's goals and Irish angst

2 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe Callaghan

When Scottie Scheffler brought his infant son into Quail Hollow’s scorer’s office to sign off on his third Major victory on Sunday evening, he needed to free his hands briefly. He plopped Bennett on the floor, pondered a second then threw down his hat and a scorecard holder to keep the one-year-old occupied. Smarts and simplicity. There was plenty of both on show from the world No.1 over four days in Charlotte.
Brilliant Scheffler conquers Quail Hollow with a classic PGA triumph

2 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe Callaghan

Meredith Scheffler turned to one of the two men in her life on the edge of Quail Hollowās 18th green and told him āyou donāt know what just happenedā¦but thatās pretty coolā. Some day in the not too distant future Bennett Scheffler will know that what his father achieved here on a sun-kissed Sunday was indeed pretty cool. What a third Major before his 29th birthday means for Scottie Scheffler remains to be seen but what was clear in the moment was this meant a lot.
Muted week in Charlotte a strange next act for McIlroy

2 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe Callaghan

As Rory McIlroy and Harry Diamond exited stage right, the background character made his stealthy move. Well, sort of stealthy. Apart from the live global TV broadcast which was tracked him. The Quail Hollow volunteer watched player and caddy leave the 14th green and quickly scurried down the embankment on his knees towards the lake behind. He reached almost an entire armâs length into the water, so far that the peak of his cap was dipping in too, and retrieved McIlroyâs ball.
Quail Hollow Diary: Rahm flies two flags, bad weather good for business

2 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe Callaghan

Jon Rahm headed into Sunday six shots back of Scottie Scheffler but determined to fly the flag. Which flag though? Both Spanish and Saudi Arabian hopes rested on the big man’s shoulders. How the breakaway tour’s lack of competitiveness affects its stars is a common Major week debate. Here in Charlotte it arose again. “It is hard to express how hungry I may be for a major,” Rahm said after his Saturday 67 moved him somewhere he hasn’t been for some time.
Scheffler's creeping brilliance defines PGA moving day with McIlroy a silent partner

2 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe Callaghan

Eight sprawling palatial homes skirt along the 15th fairway at Quail Hollow, each estimated to be set you back north of $10m. Another six more reserved, easier-on-the-wallet piles of brick hug the green. On the balcony of one of the latter white-washed cluster stands Rory McIlroy, peering out on to the par five and holding the Wanamaker Trophy aloft.
Storm breaks and bad bounces rob McIlroy of any momentum at PGA Championship

2 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe Callaghan

Quail Hollow gave and then immediately took away as momentum proved an elusive thing for Rory McIlroy during a heavily delayed moving day at the PGA Championship. The Irishman was forced to wait over five hours to get his third round underway after thunderstorms and lightning caused various headaches for organisers of the year's second Major in North Carolina.
Erratic McIlroy barely survives PGA cut after an evening of Irish carnage

3 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe Callaghan

Rory McIlroy survived a chaotic finish to his second round to make the cut at the PGA Championship by the slimmest margin as Quail Hollow proved altogether unwelcoming to its Irish visitors on Friday afternoon. Having battled back from a disappointing opening 74 to be four-under for his round and safely within the cut line, McIlroy stood over a kick-in par putt on the penultimate hole. What followed was barely believable. On second thoughts, it was very believable.
'F*** this place!' — Shane Lowry fumes over embedded ball at Quail Hollow

3 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe Callaghan

Shane Lowry's dislike of Quail Hollow looks to have turned to open disdain after the Offaly man was left irate when a PGA Championship rules official refused to give him relief for a plugged lie during Friday's second round. Fighting to make the cut after an opening-round 73, Lowry was moving in the right direction at 1-under for his round when he reached the eighth. But, in a week where the splodgy surfaces in Charlotte had left the pros railing against mud balls, Lowry found his ball plugged.