McIlroy foundation to start hosting The Irish Open

SnowDrifts · 21-09-2014 08:24PM #1

Rory's foundation will start to host The Irish Open from next year. Positive news and fair play to Rory for trying to give something back. Hopefully this will attract new players and new financial interests.

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2014/tournamentid=2014048/news/newsid=236732.html

Barnaboy · 21-09-2014 08:35PM

Well done Rory, credit where it's due.

Benny Cake · 21-09-2014 08:40PM

Fair play, how much cash is he likely to be putting up here per annum?

Norfolk Enchants_ · 21-09-2014 08:41PM

Great news considering the worrying comments he made a fews weeks ago, fair play to him.

Mantis Toboggan · 21-09-2014 08:48PM

Fair play, that's an excellent gesture.

slave1 · 21-09-2014 08:50PM

Kudos

Rikand · 21-09-2014 08:52PM

Just reading about this on the european tour app. Fairplay to him indeed.

Keano · 21-09-2014 09:18PM

Would think a few bigger names might come over to it with him backing it.

FixdePitchmark · 21-09-2014 09:19PM

lol,

I put that up as an idea last year.

Class.

Now that is how to win back the Irish Public.

Dealerz · 21-09-2014 09:24PM

Fair play to him

aster99 · 21-09-2014 09:26PM

Excellent. Could mean a few "bigger" names there next year!

markthespark77 · 21-09-2014 09:58PM

fair play.

The Big Easy · 21-09-2014 10:20PM

Could make it one of the biggest events on the European Tour again. Hope he lets it down South once in a while

FixdePitchmark · 21-09-2014 10:22PM

The Big Easy wrote: »

Could make it one of the biggest events on the European Tour again. Hope he lets it down South once in a while

I did fear when I was thinking about it - that Rory would make a Northern Ireland Open.

But this is perfect.

lester76 · 21-09-2014 10:33PM

Good man rory fairplay to him

bigtimecharlie · 21-09-2014 11:24PM

Would him backing say "Northern Ireland Tourism" or "Failte Ireland" not be better as a whole.

Seems a bit early in his career to be supporting/bailing out a regular tout event. (Thomas Bjorn does sponsor a challenge tour event)

ForeRight · 21-09-2014 11:42PM

JP convinced him to do it. Fair play Japes

FixdePitchmark · 21-09-2014 11:46PM

ForeRight wrote: »

JP convinced him to do it. Fair play Japes

That seriosus - your almost the boy who cried wolf now ForeRight

jokser250 · 22-09-2014 08:26AM

Great gesture by rory in fairness

DuckSlice · 22-09-2014 10:10AM

This could bring his good friend tiger back to irish soil? Would be great for the irish open. Mcillroy and woods in the last pairing on the opening day!

John Divney · 22-09-2014 10:34AM

Now he can miss the cut guilt free!

Jokes, this is great news, hopefully it means playing some top links courses again.

FixdePitchmark · 22-09-2014 10:41AM

It is absolutely genius the more it settles in.

The only way to get over small minded bigotry that has hung over poisoned minds about Rory - is to act above it all.

gordongekko · 22-09-2014 10:50AM

What does this actually mean? There is not a lot of details in the article?

Tones69 · 22-09-2014 10:58AM

gordongekko wrote: »

What does this actually mean? There is not a lot of details in the article?

Basically it means hes pumpin a lot into it to get some big big names over! I think we will deffo see the likes of tiger, rickie and stenson etc. If we are honest the reason why a lot of big names dont play here is because the cash prizes are small. We can expect to see a leap in those prizes next year. The event has struggled in recent years due to recession, sponsors etc etc

gordongekko · 22-09-2014 11:01AM

Tones69 wrote: »

Basically it means hes pumpin a lot into it to get some big big names over! I think we will deffo see the likes of tiger, rickie and stenson etc. If we are honest the reason why a lot of big names dont play here is because the cash prizes are small. We can expect to see a leap in those prizes next year. The event has struggled in recent years due to recession, sponsors etc etc

Where does it say that? I read it as his foundation is basically the official charity of the open. It looks like the Irish open are just doing whatever they can to ensure he continues to play in the tournament.

stooge · 22-09-2014 11:02AM

Will be great to see the Irish Open return to Royal County Down after nearly 80 years. What a spectacular course. Hopefully the weather is decent to show off that part of the world to a wider audience. Fair play to Ror!

big_drive · 22-09-2014 11:12AM

If he can talk the likes of Fowler into playing it will be a massive draw

BigChap1759 · 22-09-2014 11:17AM

gordongekko wrote: »

Where does it say that? I read it as his foundation is basically the official charity of the open. It looks like the Irish open are just doing whatever they can to ensure he continues to play in the tournament.

That's how I read it - they are still looking to secure main sponsors for the event. Think it's a bit of a leap to expect to see Tiger etc....

PARlance · 22-09-2014 11:17AM

gordongekko wrote: »

What does this actually mean? There is not a lot of details in the article?

I think it means that Rory's charity becomes a charity of choice with the European Tour and in particular the Irish Open.

With Rory's name being associated with the Irish Open, it should mean that a bigger and better field enters. Rory said on Sky that he'll be leaning on "friends" on both tours to play. So I think it's safe to assume that there'll be some big names coming.
Sponsorship and prize money will increase if/when some of the top players flock here.

There'll prob be a nice donation from the Tour to the Charity. Iirc, the Irish Open, despite it's struggle to get main sponsors (prizemoney for players) is a very healthy event for the Tour (they pocket the ticket sales) anyway so I'm not sure the charity would stand to benefit greatly in a Financial sense as it was prob going to be a sell out anyway and attracting big players won't boost that contribution massively.
The big win for the charity is probably notoriety and PR, which in itself, is great.

But there'll be a lot of positive spin offs.
I'm guessing the ranking points available will jump, making it a much more important/attractive event.
New sponsors will be attracted boosting the prize pool and more people will be watching (it may be given some decent coverage in the US) it which will be great for tourism.

So in summary, the linking of the Charity may be a small enough thing directly but the knock on effects could and should be massive.
Think it's time for the Irish Open to grab the bull by the horns and use this link as well as the fact the qualification spots are now available to The Open (British) and make a decision to play the Irish Open at a links course from here on (as much as possible obv.)

Tones69 · 22-09-2014 11:21AM

gordongekko wrote: »

Where does it say that? I read it as his foundation is basically the official charity of the open. It looks like the Irish open are just doing whatever they can to ensure he continues to play in the tournament.

It doesnt and wont say it, but if you seen the interview with rory, "il be doing my best to get some of my friends from both tours to play" etc. you know what that means. Of course he will be pumping money into it

take everything · 22-09-2014 11:23AM

Fair play to him.
This is why i like this guy.

McIlroy foundation to start hosting The Irish Open

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