Amgen Irish Open
Purse: €5.15 million (€880,000 to the winner)
Where: Straffan, Co. Kildare
The course: Palmer North – 7,441 yards par 72 – at The K Club is an Arnold Palmer-signature design that has water in play on no fewer than 15 holes of the tree-lined, parkland layout. It is one of the most established host venues on the DP World Tour having staged the Ryder Cup in 2006 and the Smurfit European Open on no fewer than 13 occasions.
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This is the third time to stage the Irish Open (won by Rory McIlroy in 2016 and by Vincent Norrman in 2023) and the layout is a reconfigured tournament one again compared to the usual members configuration, with the first hole (the 10th for members) and the 10th (the first for members) flipping the two loops and only the par 4 ninth and the par 5 18th unchanged.
The par 4 seventh traditionally plays as the toughest hole on the course, although it is the finishing stretch of 16th-17th-18th which has jeopardy and risk/reward in play with the River Liffey in play on the 16th and 17th and a lake on the approach to the 18th.
Course record: 72 holes: 267 Per-Ulrik Johansson (1997 European Open); 18 holes: 60 Darren Clarke (1999 European Open)
The field: A very good one but not a great one, hit by the late decision of defending champion Rasmus Hojgaard not to play (it would have been his fifth event in five weeks ahead with the Ryder Cup on the horizon) while Sergio Garcia also withdrew.
Still, world number two and Masters champion Rory McIlroy headlines a field that would be the envy of many other events on the regular DP World Tour season with his fellow Ryder Cup team members Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton also playing. Brooks Koepka, a five-time Major champion, adds his own sprinkling of stardust, while former Masters champions Danny Willett and Patrick Reed and Open champion Francesco Molinari are also competing.
Quote-Unquote: “I was getting a bit older, too many balls hit over the years and struggling to get to the bottom of it. I finally did, and during the summer I got some treatments on it and stuff like that. Probably the last six, seven weeks I’ve been 100 per cent for the first time in a long time.
“I can’t wait to get the equipment dialled back in, and to see some of the speed coming back, it’s kind of cool to see. I’ve never had a sustained injury like that before, and it kind of gets you really down and you wonder if you could ever really shake it. I kind of have a new enthusiasm for the game going forward” – Séamus Power on finally getting a clean bill of health after an injury-ravaged season on the PGA Tour.
Irish in the field: Where Conor Purcell has, more often than not, ploughed a lone furrow on the European circuit for much of the year there is a strong Irish contingent for this latest edition of the Irish Open. In fact, there are 11 Irish players in the field with McIlroy, Power, Shane Lowry, Tom McKibbin, Pádraig Harrington, Max Kennedy, Robert Moran, Mark Power, amateur John Doyle and Alex Maguire joining Purcell. McIlroy, Lowry and Harrington all number the Irish Open among their career wins.
Weather eye: Unsettled weather is forecast for the four days of the tournament, with the first round set to see plenty of cloud cover and scattered blustery showers through the day. The showers are due to ease in the evening.
Betting: No surprise that Rory McIlroy – winner here in 2016 – heads the market at 7-2 while inform Englishmen Marco Penge and Tyrrell Hatton, who was hugely impressive in making the Europe Ryder Cup team off limited appearances away from LIV, are both rated 12-1 shots with Shane Lowry at 14-1. However, better value could be found with Scotland’s Grant Forrest who traditionally plays well in the Irish Open (he was top 5 last year and finished tied-third here in 2023). Forrest, winner of the Nexo Championship just last month, is worth an each-way look at 75s.
On TV: Live coverage on Sky Sports Golf from 8am.
