McIlroy and Woods form new company; holders Connacht and Ulster win on day one of Interpros

Masters champion Tiger Woods plays his stroke from the No. 12 tee during Practice Round 2 for the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Monday, November 9, 2020.

TIGER WOODS and Rory McIlroy have founded a new company as part of the plans to create a technology-driven series for PGA Tour stars.

The game’s two biggest names yesterday launched TMRW Sports in collaboration with former NBC executive Mike McCarley to focus on “building technology-focused ventures that feature progressive approaches to sports, media, and entertainment.”

“I am excited to work with TMRW Sports in bringing people more access to sports,” said Woods. “So many athletes, entertainers, and people I meet from all walks of life share our passion for sports, but they also share our desire to build a better future for the next generation of sports fans.”

McIlroy, who has stakes in several digital and new technology companies, said he’d spent the last few years off the course focused on helping “to lead golf into its digital future” and hoped his collaboration with Woods would help “shape the way that media and technology improve the sports experience.”

“In a world where technology provides us with so many choices for using our time, we want to make sports more accessible for as many people as possible,” McIlroy said.

Woods is not competing in this week’s season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta, but McIlroy’s odds of winning the FedEx Cup for the third time improved when Will Zalatoris was forced to withdraw with a back injury.

Ranked third in the race for the $18 million FedExCup bonus, just three shots behind Scottie Scheffler on seven-under, Zalatoris withdrew during the third round of last week’s BMW Championship with what turned out to be two herniated discs.

The world number nine was expected to be named as one of US skipper Davis Love III’s picks for next month’s Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow but will now have to settle for 30th place FedEx Cup money of $500,000 to go with earnings this season of $9.4m.

Scheffler leads the money list with $14 million from 24 events with McIlroy fifth with $8.65 million from 15 starts, Shane Lowry 28th with $3.61 m (18 starts) and Séamus Power 35th with $3.1m (26 starts).

McIlroy will start six shots behind Scheffler on four-under at East Lake and play alongside Open champion Cameron Smith in the first round.

Munster's John Cleary and Liam Nolan (Connacht) - Photo by Fran Caffrey | Golffile.

In amateur golf, Beth Coulter, Anna Foster and Lauren Walsh are off in the first three groups in the Espirito Santo Trophy for the World Amateur Team Championship at St-Nom-La-Bretèche in Paris.

Meanwhile, the defending champions made winning starts in the Men’s and Women’s Interprovincials at Moyvalley,

In the men’s event, holders Connacht won four and a half points from seven singles to beat Munster 6.5-4.5 as Ulster edged out Leinster 6-5.

In the women’s event, defending champions Ulster beat Munster 7-2 as Leinster beat Connacht 6.5-2.5.

The two defending champions were keen to show they would not be giving up their titles easily, storming out of the blocks quickly.

Liam Nolan, who was top points scorer in 2021, won both matches today meaning he is unbeaten in his last 8 outings for Connacht. The Galway GC member paired up with Jack McDonnell this morning before seeing off Alex King 5&4 in the afternoon singles.

“Today was very good, I got off to a nice start this morning with Jack,” said the Ireland International. “I think everyone played well today, just sometimes people lose and sometimes you win. I’ve been fortunate enough to be on the winning side in those games. Coming up against good players, some of them have been tight so we’re just happy to win today and play again tomorrow.”

The Ulster women could manage only 1.5 points from 3 in the morning foursomes but rallied in the afternoon to win 5.5 from 6. Amy O’Donnell and Kate Dwyer were key for the side, gaining 4 points between them.

Leinster’s Kate Lanigan posted two wins today in the teams 6.5 – 2.5 win over Connacht, both in her foursomes match alongside Emma Fleming and in her singles versus Shannon Burke.

“We’d a super match,’ she said of her afternoon match-up against Burke. “I played her in the foursomes as well as the singles. Yeah, I think we had about 13 birdies between us, we halved in birdies at least 5 or 6 times, it was a great match, she’s always been a great player.”

Lanigan believes that team Leinster has the right ingredients to be in with a chance of the title come Thursday afternoon.

Ulster’s Amy O’Donnell and Kate Dwyer during day one the Interprovincial Championship, Moyvalley Golf Club, Enfield, Kildare, IRL. 23/08/2022. Picture Fran Caffrey / Golffile.ie

“The plan is the same again tomorrow, look after the foursomes and then reset and go from there for the singles. I think we worked well as a team today, a bit of bonding later maybe with a few games of cards and same again tomorrow, it worked well today.”

The Leinster men’s team suffered a late comeback from Ulster to lose by a single point in the final matches of the day. Four of the seven singles matches reached the 18th with three of them resulting in a half point for each side. A final hole win for James Hewitt (Tandragee) against Alan Fahy (Bray) was ultimately the all-important point for Ulster.

On Wednesday Ulster will play Connacht while Munster will take on Leinster in the Women’s event and in the Men’s event it will be Connacht vs. Leinster and Ulster vs. Munster.

Women’s Interprovincial Matches, Moyvalley Hotel & Golf Resort

Connacht 2.5 - 6.5 Leinster (Connacht names first)

1. Shannon Burke and Olivia Costello lost to Kate Lanigan and Emma Fleming 4&3,

2. Suzanne Corcoran and Kate Dillon beat Jenny Maguire and Rachel McDonnell 2&1,

3. Clodagh Hopkins and Ada Bowler lost to Ellen O’Gorman and Anna Abom 3&1,

4. Annabel Greham lost to Emma Fleming 3&2,

5. Shannon Burke lost to Kate Lanigan 2&1,

6. Suzanne Corcoran lost to Emily Murray 1 hole,

7. Clodagh Hopkins lost to Jenny Maguire 3&2,

8. Kate Dillon halved with Ellen O’Gorman,

9. Olivia Costello beat Anna Abom 2&1

Ulster 6.5 - 2.5 Munster (Ulster names first)

1. Katie Poots and Jessica Ross halved with Aideen Walsh and Lauren Kelly,

2. Amy O’Donnell and Kate Dwyer beat Paula Walsh and Caitlin Shippam 4&2,

3. Louise Coffey and Laura Webb lost to Clodagh Coughlan and Aoife Ni Thuama 4&2,

4. Kate Poots halved with Aideen Walsh

5. Kate Dwyer beat Lauren Kelly 3&2,

6. Louise Coffey beat Caitlin Shippam 1 hole,

7. Amy O’Donnell beat Corrina Griffin 2&1,

8. Jessica Ross beat Aoife Ní Thuama 5&3,

9. Laura Webb halved with Clodagh Coughlan

Men’s Interprovincial Matches

Connacht 6.5 - 4.5 Munster (Connacht names first)

1. David Kitt and Harry Gillivan beat David Reddan and Darragh Flynn 2&1,

2. Liam Nolan and Jack McDonnell beat Conor Hickey and John Cleary 4&2,

3. Simon Walker and Allan Hill lost to Jack Murphy and Alex King 3&1,

4. TJ Ford and Sean Flanagan lost to Richard Knightly and Darren O’Sullivan 4&3,

5. Liam Nolan beat Alex King 5&4,

6. Jack McDonnell beat Jack Murphy 4&3,

7. David Kitt halved with Darragh Flynn,

8. TJ Ford beat John Cleary 6&4,

9. Allan Hill lost to Conor Hickey 5&4,

10. Harry Gillivan lost to David Reddan 2&1,

11. Sean Flanagan beat Richard Knightly 2 holes

Leinster 5 - 6 Ulster (Leinster names first)

1. Rob Brazill and Jake Whelan halved with Joshua Hill and Jordan Hood,

2. Alan Fahy and Eoin Murphy lost to Ryan Griffin and Cian Harkin 1 hole,

3. Charlie Denvir and Paul Coughlan beat Ross Latimer and Aaron Marshall 2&1,

4. Keith Egan and Marc Boucher lost to Shane McDermott and James Hewitt 1 hole,

5. Rob Brazill beat Joshua Hill 3&2,

6. Marc Boucher halved with Ryan Griffin,

7. Paul Coughlan lost to Ross Latimer 2&1,

8. Charlie Denvir halved with Shane McDermott,

9. Jake Whelan halved with Aaron Marshall,

10. Alan Fahy lost to James Hewitt 1 hole,

11. Keith Egan beat Jordan Hood 2&1