Smyth's return a timely boost for flagship event

Irish Seniors Open: If not quite constituting the return of the prodigal son, Des Smyth's appearance in this week's AIB Irish Seniors Open at The Heritage at Killenard, near Portlaoise, is nevertheless a huge fillip to a tournament that has been a mainstay of the European Seniors Tour.

The tournament marks 52-year-old Smyth's seasonal debut in Europe and his first time playing in the Irish Seniors since moving on from the regular tour. In terms of timing, however, it couldn't be better. Smyth has shown quite remarkable form on the Champions Tour in the United States this season, where he lies third on the money list with winnings of $786,911.

Of perhaps more importance than the monetary gain, though, is Smyth has won twice - in the SBC Classic and then in the elite-field Legends of Golf - and his tied-sixth place finish in the US PGA Seniors last weekend (which bulged his bank balance by another $60,000) only served to underline his fine form as he heads home for a rare appearance on Irish soil.

Smyth is no stranger to actually winning in Ireland: he has won no fewer than six Irish PGA championships, most recently in 2001, as well as the short-lived Irish International Matchplay. The Champions Tour in America has effectively been his home tour for the past two years, and his form this year makes him the favourite as he seeks to become the first home-born winner since Joe McDermott at Woodbrook in 1998.

If the mantle of favourite is, quite rightly, attached to Smyth, he won't be alone in representing a particularly strong Irish challenge as Denis O'Sullivan, the winner of the season-opening tournament in Barbados, and Eamonn Darcy are both in the top 10 on the European Seniors Tour Order of Merit, while the presence of defending champion Carl Mason and former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance indicates a strong invasion force.

In all, there will be 12 Irish players (inducing three amateurs) in the event which has a prize purse of €400,000. Smyth, Darcy and O'Sullivan are joined by former winner McDermott, two-time British Seniors Open champion Christy O'Connor Jnr, Eddie Polland, Arthur Spring, Liam Higgins, Paul Leonard and amateurs Arthur Pierse, Adrian Morrow and Dermot Morris.