Irish Open 2015 at Royal County Down

HighLine

First Up wrote: »

He would come for the money - nothing else.

Says who?

HighLine

Has Rory hooked Tiger for 2016 Irish Open at The K Club?

Next month's Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Royal County Down promises to be one of the best ever. But sources close to tournament host Rory McIlroy reckon the world No 1 will go one better next year by landing pal Tiger Woods.

And with a move back south of the border a given for 2016, it appears that The K Club will play host to its first Irish Open nearly 10 years after it held that record equalling Ryder Cup win over the USA.

As the scene of Datten Clarke's finest hour as a Ryder Cup player it would also tee up the Dungannon man's captaincy at Hazeltine later next year.

No appearance money would change hands with McIlroy set to play in Woods' season-ending charity event, the Hero World Challenge, which will move to Albany, the luxury resort community in The Bahamas jointly owned by Tavistock Group, Woods and Ernie Els, at the end of this year.

The idea certainly makes sense - an iconic venue near Dublin with the quid pro quo between McIltoy and Woods guaranteeing their respective Foundations major benefits.

McIlroy has already secured a title sponsor for the Irish Open and the presence of stars like Rickie Fowler, Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia for this year's event at the end of May.

The Rory Foundation and the European Tour are expected to make some major announcements next week. Watch this space.

First Up

HighLine wrote: »

Says who?

Me - based on all available evidence, precedent and application of logic.

HighLine

First Up wrote: »

Me - based on all available evidence, precedent and application of logic.

Flawed logic in my opinion but we shall see.

First Up

HighLine wrote: »

Flawed logic in my opinion but we shall see.

We will. There is nothing anywhere about Rory's Foundation having any role in the 2016 Irish Open. (The speculative article above promised imminent "major announcements" by the RF and European Tour - they didn't happen yet.) The RCD event was hosted by the Rory Foundation so the financial link was there. That doesn't explain how Woods playing in Straffan would benefit the RF.

Woods never plays an event outside the US (other than the Open Championship) without an appearance fee. He has also been handsomely (albeit indirectly) paid for some events in the US. Until recently his asking price was $3 million (sometimes more) but this is reported to have declined since his star faded.

aster99

charlieIRL wrote: »

Where did you hear this?

From someone who works with one of this years sponsors. He had to attend a meeting in Royal county Down about 10 weeks ago where next years tournament was also spoken about for a brief period of time

First Up

aster99 wrote: »

From someone who works with one of this years sponsors. He had to attend a meeting in Royal county Down about 10 weeks ago where next years tournament was also spoken about for a brief period of time

Wasn't Michael Smurfit feeding that rumour machine to the media a few months back? For fairly obvious reasons.

PARlance

All this talk of a July date or a links swing... they just need to change it to Leaving Cert week... Gauranteed fine weather incoming

Seve OB

Over the last few years i have heard from a very good source lots of different venues and they changed like the wind. I've heard K-Club and Carton both mentioned as possible venues for next year, but to be honest I'll only believe it when it all becomes official.

neckedit

Seve OB wrote:

Over the last few years i have heard from a very good source lots of different venues and they changed like the wind. I've heard K-Club and Carton both mentioned as possible venues for next year, but to be honest I'll only believe it when it all becomes official.

I thought it was widely accepted and known it was going to the K Club next year, personally not a huge fan, but as its the Ryder Cup am anniversary and Clarkes Captaincy, it will make it uniquely sellable to a degree and keep The Irish Open in public view so to speak until it gets back on the ultimately sellable Links courses. But it could find a permanent home @ The K Club based on passed success of both Ryder Cup and The Very Successful European Open. I'd personally love to see an Open Rota similar to the Open Championship, Based on 6-10 courses that vary both Links and Parkland as we truly have excellence on both fronts, I'm looking at you Mount Juilet and Druids Glen as 2 of the Prettiest Parkland courses that have a history of hosting very successful events from a Player and Punter point of view. As for the Links we all know which ones we'd love to see in the rotation.

DuckSlice

Is Lough Erne resort holding the 2017 irish open? it says it on there website but i would have thought if they havent chosen a venue for 2016 surely they havent for 2017?

Speak Now

etxp wrote: »

Is Lough Erne resort holding the 2017 irish open? it says it on there website but i would have thought if they havent chosen a venue for 2016 surely they havent for 2017?

Yeah they announced 2017.

Seve OB

Dumdum McCarthy wrote: »

I just rang Donnybrook 012083111 to lodge my complaint.I will get a call on Tuesday and they will explain the situation or take my complaint on board!

the anticipation is killing me. did they call you back? what did they have to say about their awful coverage of the Irish Open?
most important.... are they going to come to Fota?

Dumdum McCarthy

Seve OB wrote: »

the anticipation is killing me. did they call you back? what did they have to say about their awful coverage of the Irish Open?
most important.... are they going to come to Fota?

It doesnt surprise me,no phone call as of yet! So you can forget about Fota,they'd make a mess of it anyway.
People tell me they gave prior notice of changing the channel before they went off air i cant recall this, only after the add for fair city is all i remember.Its not on the RTE Player to check either.

ForeRight

I played in the K club 3 weeks ago and the pro in the shop guaranteed me that the irish open was there next year and things were just being finalised before an announcement officially.