McIlroy back for Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship as Irish come out in force

His winter break over, Rory McIlroy has moved on from Dubai, where he has been working on his game, to Abu Dhabi, where he will resume tournament play in this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, the opening event of the three-week long Gulf Swing that culminates in Dubai.

But one of McIlroy’s first tasks yesterday was to welcome “the great news” that the Irish Open – official confirmation finally coming from the European Tour – will return to Fota Island in Cork in June.

With no title sponsor, the Irish Open will – as it has done since 2011 – adopt the Champions League-style format of multi-partner sponsorship.

Fáilte Ireland, who through government support have been an integral part of the tournament's sponsorship, will be joined by the European Tour itself and blue chip companies Rolex, BMW, Emirates airlines and Heineken along with host venue Fota Island. No prize fund has been revealed, although it is expected to be in excess of €2 million.

Committed
McIlroy, world number seven, has – like the other modern Irish Majors champions Pádraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke – committed to appearing in the tournament on June 19th-22nd which this year will be used by the R&A as one of a select number of events, along with the French Open and Scottish Open, in enabling players not already exempt for the British Open to secure places in the field at Hoylake.

McIlroy – one of 11 Irish players in the field in Abu Dhabi this week – welcomed Fota’s hosting of the championship as “exciting” and “exactly the kind of place to showcase what Ireland has to offer as a golf destination.” He added: “(The Irish Open) should be moved around to give everyone an opportunity to see the event”.

It will be the fourth different venue in the past four years, following on from Killarney (2011), Royal Portrush (2012) and Carton House.

Title sponsorship
The Irish Open has been without a title sponsorship since telecommunication giants 3 switched their focus from golf – having sponsored the Irish Open at Baltray in 2009 and Killarney in 2010 – to sponsoring the Irish soccer team. The tournament purse fell from €3 million in 2010 to €1.5 million the following year. It had moved back up to €2 million for last year's staging, when England's Paul Casey triumphed.

In advocating government strategy to continue to support the tournament, Michael Ring, the Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, said: “Fáilte Ireland remains committed to the Irish Open and fully appreciates its value in terms of global advertising and exposure,” adding that Irish tourism agencies were “working together to promote the island of Ireland overseas as a golf destination.”

The support of Ireland's four Major champions will, unquestionably, be a huge draw for the championship but the strength of the early entries for an event some five months away is already apparent, with European Ryder Cup points leader Victor Dubuisson, of France, among those entered.

Irish contingent
Of rather more immediate concern to McIlroy – who had a strong finish to his 2013 season that yielded a win in the Australian Open – will be his attempts to hit the ground running in Abu Dhabi, where he fronts an 11-strong Irish contingent in Harrington, Clarke, Shane Lowry, Michael Hoey, Simon Thornton, Kevin Phelan (playing on a sponsor's invitation), Damien McGrane, Gareth Maybin, Peter Lawrie and Paul McGinley.

Harrington will seek to bring the momentum of a top-five finish in the Volvo Champions with him to Abu Dhabi, aware he needs to register good finishes if he is to have any chance of making this year’s Ryder Cup team. Harrington’s bid for qualification for Gleneagles is hampered by the fact he is not (yet!) in the field for either of the year’s first two WGCs – the Accenture Matchplay and the Cadillac championship – nor is he in the field for the Masters.

As he remarked after this tied-fifth finish in South Africa on Sunday, “I’ve no points up, (and) I’m not in any of the big events.

“I probably have more of a chance of winning a Major than making the Ryder Cup team this year . . . but, if I did win a Major, that puts me right into position.”