Ireland’s Olivia Mehaffey will head a select group of some of golf’s top up-and-coming amateur stars who have been confirmed to play in the prestigious Telegraph BMW Junior Championship at Quinta do Lago in Portugal next month.

His PR spokesperson might have shot down an agency story suggesting he's planning a practice round at Whistling Straits on Saturday but there is positive talk in Irish golf circles that Rory McIlroy will come back from his ankle injury for his PGA Championship defence next week after all.

Victorious Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley believes the opening of Quinta do Lago’s redeveloped North Course will cement the prestigious Algarve venue’s position among the best and most exclusive golf resorts in the world.

Paul McGinley flees from the idea that he was the perfect captain or that he has turned the Ryder Cup into a poisoned chalice for his successor.

Whoever gets the nod early next year — Miguel Ángel Jiménez and Darren Clarke appear to be the clear front runners for the job at Hazeltine in 2016 providing Thomas Bjorn and Pádraig Harrington don't change their mind about playing again — it will be impossible for any of them to replicate the McGinley formula.