Black Magic...cheers.

Guinness is good for you. Don't believe me? Just ask these three blokes pictured above if it's good for them. I believe they would say it's not only good for you but it's "the breakfast of champions.".

McDowell-McIlroy-Clarke. The Northern Irish Protestant Trifecta. Between them they have won three Golf Majors within the last 13 months. Graeme McDowell won the US Open at Pebble Beach last summer. Rory McIlroy won the US Open at Congressional this past June. And Darren Clarke just won the esteemed British Open at Royal St. George's. What's remarkable about these three is that all are from Northern Ireland. You know the land of "The Troubles." They all lived and grew up as Ulsterman within the dark shadows of The Ardoyne.

The Ardoyne, a restless and impoverished neighborhood in North Belfast, rests in the center of "The Troubles" where "The Arrogant Orange" boldly march through the Catholic section every July while thumbing their noses at "the great unwashed"... begging the Romans for a fight. The Catholics always oblige. Violence occurs. Property is damaged. People are hurt. And the hate continues...unabated...generationally.

Juxtaposed against this ancestral backdrop of enmity in the North of Ireland, is golf. Currently, golf has acted as a temporary bridge between Ireland's Catholics and Protestants. Unquestionably and remarkably, this small area of 1.8 million residents, is producing golfing winners. And everybody loves winners regardless of where they come from. Even in the South, the Catholics are embracing these gifted Ulsterman as their own...for now. Blame it all on the black magic of Guinness, est. 1759. It's inherent frothy healing goodness knows no prejudice or no bottom. And that is good for the fragile peace process even if it's temporary and illusory.

As these three golfing victors quaff down the Republic's finest from the banks of the River Liffey, let us remember the words of the greatly tormented Irish poet, WB Yeates, "The Irish have an abiding sense of tragedy. which sustains them through temporary periods of joy." In other words, enjoy the pints fellas for tomorrow will bring something all together different. Sorry, it's just the way of the Irish...North or South.

So postpone the sunrise...I'll have another dark one for sunset.

Cheers.