Judo, his master calls him. It's the Japanese way, adding the letter "O" onto the end of a word, and Jude O'Reilly simply smiles inwardly. "Nice shot," he will compliment his "master". That, too, is the Japanese way, using golf's universal language.

The 31-year-old from Rosses Point is enjoying his time with Shigeki Maruyama since joining him at the beginning of the year, having previously worked with compatriot Massy Kuramoto. O'Reilly is here at Firestone this week, having helped Maruyama to a share of 46th place in the USPGA Championship last week after a wretched opening round of 77.

"He's even more pleasant off the course," he said of Maruyama, who has endeared himself to galleries as one of golf's great smilers. "I've been in Japan for eight-and-a-half years so I can speak casual Japanese. That's the way we converse." Any thoughts of coming home? "Things are going so well at the moment that I couldn't think of it," he replied.

Meanwhile, he can look forward to working with his "master" at Lake Manassas, Virginia, in October in the President's Cup. That's the event in which the public saw Maruyama smiling his way to a shock victory for the International team over the US in Melbourne two years ago. And it seems he hasn't stopped smiling since.