Irish Open bringing in the stars

Eight major champions and 12 of the world’s top-50 players will play in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory McIlroy Foundation, at the K Club in Straffan, County Kildare, from May 19-22.

McIlroy tops the list of eight major champions in the 156-strong field, which includes Danny Willett, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer, Y.E. Yang and Trevor Immelman.

Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Russel Knox, Andy Sullivan, Shane Lowry, Lee Westwood, Soren Kjeldsen, Matt Fitzpatrick, Bernd Wiesberger, Thongchai Jaidee and David Lingmerth, complete the 12 top-50 players after McIlroy and Willett.

Prize money this year has risen to €4 million up from €2.5 million last year and they plan to raise that to €7 million by 2018. This year’s winner will trouser €675,000.

The event has other significance as well, as it is one of the last big events before July 11’s Olympic qualification deadline. Six of the nine European Ryder Cup squad will also be playing, and Darren Clarke will no doubt be keeping a watchful eye on their progress.

As it stands, Cabrera Bello, Kjeldsen, Fitzpatrick and Sullivan all currently occupy automatic qualifying places for The Ryder Cup. McIlroy and Willett have already confirmed their places at Hazeltine National in September.

Martin Kaymer is also relishing the chance to play and loves the "great atmosphere" at the Irish Open. This will be his forth appearance at the event, with his a tied tenth finish in 2008 his best outing so far.

“The Irish people love their golf and really get behind the players, so it should make for a great atmosphere, especially with such a strong field there. The crowds always turn up and show their support, and that’s one of the main reasons why I enjoy playing in Ireland,” he said.

It may have been five years since he won on the European Tour, which we find hard to believe, although let’s not forget that he also won the 2014 US Open. With a top six finish at Valderrama two weeks ago, he may well be coming into some form.

Tickets are priced at just €30 per day with a season ticket costing €70 for the entire four days, which we think is great value, especially given the quality of the field that the event is now able to attract. This is very much in line with the thinking that has made the Phoenix Waste Management such a great event. Attract a strong field, price it right, and they will come.

We know that earlier this year that the head of Rory’s Foundation visited the Phoenix Waste Management Open. We wonder what else they will have learnt from that experience, and what they bring back to the Irish Open?

For more on the Phoenix Waste Management Open click here or on the image below.