Irish Open to Killarney in August

PhilipMarlowe

According to the sports news on Radio 1 this morning, the Irish Open will return to the Killeen Course in Killarney for the August Bank Holiday Weekend... officially announced next week.

dvemail

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/killarney-to-open-up-14533884.html

Sounds good, at least we should have better weather!

Johnny_Fontane

thats good news, not sure that the course is irish open standard but hey, it'll be a nice weekend, next august.

Kevinmarkham

dvemail wrote: »

Sounds good, at least we should have better weather!

You do remember the August we had this year, right! Our club had to cancel a number of events because of rain. Don't get your hopes up.

Great news for Killarney. A beautiful town and Killeen's a great track.

ThunderCat

I think its crazy that the Irish Open is not played on a links course. Every country in the world has finely manicured parkland courses but our links courses is what set us apart from almost all other countries. Plus, if we get the same amount of rain next August as we did this August, only a links course would be able to withstand it.

Id love to see the Irish Open played on a links every single year, and have it as close to The Open as possible in order to attract some of the bigger names looking to sharpen their skills in preperation for The Open. Not as easy as that I know, but thats what id like to see.

Blunder

Will this not clash with the USPGA or Bridgestone? It may not be on the same weekend as either of the above but surely it'll be seen as a week off for a lot of the players who are competing in the big events.

dnjoyce

most links courses probably don't have the room for the tented villages, parking and associated circus that comes with a European tour event, so as much as it would be great to have it on links courses, the €€ rules these decisions!

L.O.F.T

ThunderCat wrote: »

Id love to see the Irish Open played on a links every single year, and have it as close to The Open as possible in order to attract some of the bigger names looking to sharpen their skills in preperation for The Open. Not as easy as that I know, but thats what id like to see.

I agree with the above as the top names all like to play and practice on links before the Open and it would give us a better field and we have some of the best links course in the worlld. I also agree that the $ and € talk but it would be nice to see Ballybunion and other greats host the Irish open again

Snakey

Anyone know when is race week in Killarney? That would be some week if they're both on together. Would be worth using up the whole year's Brownie-point allocation!

PhilipMarlowe

First monday in August is the holiday weekend here so thats Monday 2nd August 2010...
The open will be July 29th to Aug 1st presumably.
August racing in Killarney 2010 is 17-20th (tue-fri evenings) according to http://www.goracing.ie/Content/HRI/hrifestivals.aspx?id=9432

Snakey

Thanks Licksy. I think I'd need to fork out for the ring before I'd get permission for 3 weeks!

Aidric

Delighted to hear this, not too far from my neck of the woods.

The_Kew_Tour

Was lucky enough to play the course back in 1997 and have say its one the best parkland courses I have played.

It not too far from me either so plan maybe get the Saturday and Sunday in.

Have say having it on bank holiday is plus and think will draw bigger crowd.

In_tuition

Thought Baltray would hold onto this for a few years.

From a personal point of view I'm disgusted.

jakedabake

I think we should all be grateful we still have an Irish Open to enjoy. We were very close to losing it altogether.
As far as the Killeen course is concerned its a great course & ideal for our open, i was lucky to play it a few years back & i remember well Faldo winning back to back there in the early 90's. The change of date should ensure big crowd's & hopefully we'll see the Irish Open regain the prestige it had in the 80's sooner rather than later

eire750

It will clash with the galway races which draws big crowds but I'm sure anyone who enjoys both sports can catch a couple of days in killarney and galway

Aidric

eire750 wrote: »

It will clash with the galway races which draws big crowds but I'm sure anyone who enjoys both sports can catch a couple of days in killarney and galway

You would certainly get better value for money in Killarney. Galway Race Week is an overpriced joke.

MisterAnarchy

Nice to see it move to a late date in the year when the weather should be better.
However I think the field will be poor though as thats a bad slot in the schedule.
It clashes with the Buick Open in the US.
The Czech Open was in that slot this year and it was a very low key event with a weak field.
Its a pity as it deserves better as it has a very large prize fund and is a well supported event.

Gailf

Cracking venue and an improved date on the schedule. The whole of Ireland will be in Killarney for the bank holiday weekend.

PhilipMarlowe

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Nice to see it move to a late date in the year when the weather should be better.
However I think the field will be poor though as thats a bad slot in the schedule.
It clashes with the Buick Open in the US.
The Czech Open was in that slot this year and it was a very low key event with a weak field.
Its a pity as it deserves better as it has a very large prize fund and is a well supported event.

The ~ €500k on offer for first place should help attract a decent field at that stage of a Ryder Cup qualification though...

soundsham

thought that was the last buick.....maybe not but thought they were packing it in this year

PhilipMarlowe

Ticket deal available which might interest someone as a Christmas present?
E.g. Two adults and two kids (family ticket), all 4 days for €50
Details here

Aidric

BBC said there that Lee Westwood has pulled out of the Irish Open. Shame.

conno16

just makes it easier for lowry to retain his title

(and more food in the canteen for the rest of us)

PhilipMarlowe

Conno misses the cut and gets the weekend off.

soundsham

Aidric wrote: »

BBC said there that Lee Westwood has pulled out of the Irish Open. Shame.

this is known for 2 weeks the only tournaments he's likely to play are the open and pga
his injury could require up to 6 weeks to heal.....worst case
so he says its feet up and rest needed,Ryder Cup to think about too and r2d at end of season for the big bucks

played it about 4 weeks ago it seemed miles off whats needed to me,no sign off much rough on a short track,Iknow it'll come to 70 from 72 par but its short

by god they'll be happy with the rain down there,badly badly needed after the cold winter

JerryHandbag

Hoping to head down to this either the Thurs/Friday. Have good memories of last time in Killarney 1992. Lovely course

Aidric

soundsham wrote: »

this is known for 2 weeks the only tournaments he's likely to play are the open and pga

He's playing the WGC before the PGA.