Sport

The Morning Sports Briefing

McIlroy and Willett tear up the K Club, Ulster and Leinster ready to do battle, Tipperary favourites but Cork can cause upset and what to watch out for

Rory McIlroy shot an opening round of 65 at The K Club. Photograph: Inpho
Rory McIlroy shot an opening round of 65 at The K Club. Photograph: Inpho
Fri May 20 2016 - 08:41

McIlroy and Willett make strong starts

Rory McIlroy and Danny Willett, the world number three and current Masters champion, are on course for a weekend showdown at the Irish Open after both enjoyed impressive opening days yesterday.

Scoring was difficult on a rain-soaked morning at the K Club with 2009 winner Shane Lowry battling through a topsy-turvy round before eventually signing for a one under par 71.

But things were better and brighter in the afternoon and the two highest ranked players in the field, McIlroy and Willett, made it count as they shot a 67 and a 65 respectively to take the top two spots on the leaderboard.

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McIlroy tees off from the 10th at 8.25am this morning while Willett is in the group after at 8.35am. You can follow all of the action live throughout the day by visiting irishtimes.com/sport.

Leinster v Ulster

TonightLeinster welcome Ulster to a 19,100 sell-out RDS for the first Pro 12 play-off semi-final and Liam Toland believes that Ulster's superior ability to utilise space gives them a slight upper hand: "There is a subtle difference between the sides, with decision making the most impressive aspect of what Les Kiss has been developing at Ulster."

But Leinster captain Isa Nacewa is bullish about his side’s chances: “You’ve just got to win at the end of the day. It’s not about brand. It’s not about style in play-off footy, you’ve just got to win. And that last 20 minutes of any play-off match is the most crucial. That’s when you have to execute the best we have all season.”

John Allen

And in his column today John Allen looks ahead to Cork's trip to play Tipperary at the weekend, the first big hurling clash of the season: "Based on quality of players available and on all known form, Tipperary should win. But this is Cork and Tipperary in the Munster championship where the foregone was often the wrong conclusion."

What to watch out for:

Golf

The second round of The Irish Open is underway (SS4, RTE 2 9.30pm onwards)

Rugby

Leinster take on Ulster in the first Pro 12 semi-final (TG4, SS3, 7.45pm ko)

Cricket

The second day of the first Test match between England and Sri Lanka resumes (SS2 10am)