The golfing gods were looking down favourably on the Murphy's Irish Open which got under way at a sun-drenched Fota Island in Cork this morning.
In all, 18 Irishmen will try to bridge the 20-year gap since John O'Leary became the last player from these shores to win the national Open.
"There's a lot of pressure put on Irish players to win Irish Opens," explained Padraig Harrington who came so close but finished joint runner-up last year behind Colin Montgomerie.
"It would be great to see an Irish winner of the Irish Open," added Harrington who has to wait until 1:10 p.m. before taking to the course alongside Argentina's Eduardo Romero and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn.
Darren Clarke, another of the strong home favourites, expressed his desire to win again in Ireland after his success in the European Open 12 months ago.
"The K-Club was a huge win for me last year, to win on home soil was fantastic, but certainly I would like to win the Irish Open as well as the European Open," said Clarke whose blistering final rounds of 65 and 64 earned him a share of second with Harrington and Sweden's Niclas Fasth last year.
Starting on the back nine, Clarke made par at the 10th and is teed-up alongside last week's Great North Open winner Miles Tunnicliff from England and Australia's Adam Scott.
Montgomerie, also starting on the back nine, was one-under after three holes courtesy of a birdie at the narrow-driving opening par five.
Richie Coughlan, who now lives in the United States and plays on the PGA Tour, was the first Irishman to take to the course. Two opening pars were followed by a disastrous triple bogey six at the par three third but the Birr-born professional rallied well to make a birdie at the next to be two-over through four holes.
Gordon Brand Jnr made the dream start two groups behind Coughlan. The Scot opened with an eagle two after holing out his approach then quickly moved to three-under with a birdie at the third to command the, very early, lead.