Sport

€14.5m on offer in eight Irish events

Two existing tournaments will have their first stagings in the south-west next year, in the busiest season in the history of …

By DERMOT GILLEECE
Tue Dec 18 2001 - 00:00

Two existing tournaments will have their first stagings in the south-west next year, in the busiest season in the history of Irish golf.

I understand that the AIB Irish Seniors' Open is to be played at Adare, while the Irish Women's Open is going to Killarney.

It is also expected that the seniors event will carry an increased prize fund from this year's £250,000 (€317,000), which gave Seiji Ebihara of Japan a top prize of £41,650 (€52,880) at Powerscourt last May.

Meanwhile, Bord Fβilte will continue to be the main sponsor of the women's event.

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Moves to the south-west will mean a spread of events right through the country, dominated by the €5.6 million American Express Championship at Mount Juliet in September, when Tiger Woods is contracted to play.

And with the staging of the Seve Ballesteros Trophy at Druids Glen in April, total prize money of close on €14.5 million will be on offer in eight events here in 2002.

The line-up is: April: €2.2 million Seve Trophy at Druids Glen; May: €380,000 (approx) AIB Irish Seniors Open, Adare; June: €160,000 Irish Women's Open, Killarney; June/July: €1.6 million Murphy's Irish Open, Fota Island; July: €3.5 million Smurfit European Open, The K Club; July: €825,000 Senior British Open, Royal Co Down; August: €350,000 North West of Ireland Open, TBA; September: €5.6 million American Express Championship, Mount Juliet.

The Seve Trophy is one of the first beneficiaries of a new, €6.35 million annual Government fund aimed at bringing top-level international sports events to this country.

Known as the International Sports Tourism Initiative, it will have access to a total of €31.75 million in Government funding over the next five years.

A venue for the North West of Ireland Open has yet to be announced, but it will not be going back to Slieve Russell, which staged it for the last two years.

I understand that it may be headed for Donegal, possibly the Glashedy Links at Ballyliffin.

Meanwhile, Adare proved to be a very successful location for the inaugural Women's World Cup last year when the Swedish duo of Sophie Gustafson and Carin Koch triumphed.

Killarney staged the Irish Open Championship in 1991 and 1992 and played host to the Curtis Cup in 1996.