Solheim Cup big shots likely to overshadow the young guns

LADIES IRISH OPEN: WORD HAS it that a ghost or two inhabits the grandiose Killeen Castle, which acts like a focal point for the holes carved this way and that on the fine country estate outside Dunsany in Co Meath. The question is: are they the ghosts of the past, present or yet to come? And a similar poser concerns the prospective winner of this week's Ladies Irish Open.

For, this week’s event – with its €400,000 purse placing it towards the very top of the Ladies European Tour schedule of tournaments outside of the Majors – is more than an intriguing appetiser to next month’s Solheim Cup. It features players of overlapping generations. Some have left an indelible mark on the women’s professional game, most notably Laura Davies, who has a remarkable 45 victories on the LET; whilst others are very much seen as the future of the sport, both here and in the United States.

Today, as the first round swings into action, we will start to get some answers.

On this front, the presence of 16-year-old Cavan twins Leona and Lisa Maguire in the field, playing as amateurs, will provide a glimpse into what the future holds. And, likewise, big-hitting American Lexi Thompson, also 16 but already playing in the professional ranks, is considered the hottest young prospect in the sport. They epitomise the theory that golf is a young woman’s sport.

As Christina Kim, currently occupying the 10th and last automatic place on the US Solheim Cup qualifying table, put it: “The Maguire sisters can inspire me right about now, the way they are playing . . . if nothing more, I tell the kids whatever they do in life, enjoy it. If you end up being a book-keeper or an accountant or whatever, so long as you enjoy it.”

Yet, if the Solheim Cup – with this tournament being the penultimate qualifying event for Alison Nicholas’s European team – here at Killeen Castle has come a little early in the careers of these precocious teenagers, it is very much on the minds of more seasoned players, with Suzann Pettersen, the world number three, heading an exceptionally strong field that also includes Major champion Stacy Lewis, the American who won the Kraft Nabisco championship on the LPGA Tour earlier this season.

It says something about Europe’s desire to regain the Solheim Cup that all eight of the players who currently occupy an automatic spot – Davies, Pettersen, Mel Reid, Christel Boeljon, Maria Hjorth, Anna Nordquvist, Catriona Matthew and defending champion Sophie Gustafson – are all in the field here, while in-form German Sandra Gal, winner of the Kia Open on the LPGA Tour earlier this season, is also competing.

Of them all, Sweden’s Gustafson has a remarkable record in Ireland, having won on no fewer than six occasions. Gustafson has four Irish Opens – 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2010 – along with a World Cup in 2000 and a BT Open in 2003 on her roll-of-honour here and, having finished third in last week’s British Open at Carnoustie, has arrived in good form.

With such quality in the invasion forces, it means the home-grown contingent face an uphill task, with Rebecca Codd, currently the leading Irish player on the European Tour money list, heading the home brigade. “It’s a course I am quite comfortable with and I want to do my best this week, being at home. I think it will be a good week,” said Codd.

Lisa Maguire, winner of the European Amateur championship two weeks ago, is also in good stead ahead of rubbing shoulders with the pros. Indeed, the Maguire twins probably know the course better than anyone, with Lisa observing: “You need to hit fairways and know where to be on the greens. You have to have a good strategy and stick to it.”

The tournament also marks the professional debut of former Curtis Cup player Danielle McVeigh. “The time is right for me to progress and I have always wanted to turn professional. Golf is such a big part of my life and with my studies now complete I believe it is the right time to focus entirely on my game. I am really excited about competing against some of the ladies top golfers in Europe on a regular basis . . . I look forward to improving my game to the standard where I will play in some of the best tournaments in the world.”

This is a good one to start with for McVeigh, but the likelihood is it will be one of the invaders who will be celebrating come Sunday afternoon – and, more likely than not, someone with Solheim Cup pretensions.