GOLF:THE IRONY won't be lost on anybody that, at a time when Irish golf is enjoying a golden generation with Pádraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell garnering four Majors between them in recent years, the Irish Open – considered one of the flagship events on the PGA European Tour – has lost its title sponsor, with mobile company 3's decision not to take up its option to stay on board for next year's tournament.

The Irish Open at Killarney over the August bank holiday was considered a huge success, with over 80,000 spectators seeing England’s Ross Fisher claim the title, so yesterday’s announcement by 3 that the company would focus on its new association with the Republic of Ireland soccer team and drop its title sponsorship of the tournament came as a surprise. In fact, the Irish Open was due to be given the same bank holiday date – from July 28th-31st next year – on the 2011 schedule.

In what a spokesman for the company termed “a straightforward marketing decision”, 3’s move nevertheless caught the European Tour, who are due to announce the 2011 tour schedule in just over a fortnight’s time, on the wrong foot. Indeed, in these challenging economic times, the European Tour, who own the tournament, will find a difficulty in coming up with a new title sponsor to keep the Irish Open among the upper tier of events.

The tournament has had a €3 million prize fund for the past two years with 3 estimating its total outlay in that time at over €8 million. Minister for Sport Mary Hanafin acknowledged the role the company played in its success at Baltray last year and in Killarney this year, adding she expected Fáilte Ireland, a significant co-sponsor, and the European Tour would “turn their attention to seeking a new sponsor so the event can continue to be one of the showcases of Irish sport”.

In this economic climate, getting any title sponsor on board is a hard sell – and, having worked its way back to being one of the top tournaments on tour, there are three varying prospects ahead for the Irish Open: (1) a new title sponsor will come on board to retain its status; (2) the tournament will drop back to become a lower-ranked event with a significantly reduced prize fund; or (3), it will die a death.