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| European Tour |
The Irish Open received another boost with the news that Martin Kaymer and Luke Donald will join Patrick Reed at this year’s event.
The tournament is hosted by the Rory (McIlroy) Foundation, and sponsored by Dubai Duty Free will take place in Royal County Down from May 28-31. The addition of Kaymer, Donald and Reed to an already strong field, the tournament sponsors have increased the prize fund by 25pc to €2.5 million, with the winner banking €416k.
The field already including some long time absentees such as Sergio Garcia, Jose Maria Olazabal and Lee Westwood. Others like Ernie Els and Rickie Fowler will join the very strong Irish contingent from Augusta: Rory McIlroy, Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke and Shane Lowry.
McIlroy has been inspirational in attracting some of the world’s best golfers to this year’s event and he expressed his delight with the addition of three more.
“It’s great to see Martin, Luke and Patrick adding their names to the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open – to have another three truly world class players at the tournament can give the Irish Open fans a better experience at Royal County Down so I’d really like to thank the guys for supporting the event.”
On the increase in prize money, McIlroy added: This is our first year to sponsor the Irish Open and we want to invest in the tournament and work with the European Tour and the Rory Foundation in order to attract the best players in the world.”
Two-time Major winner Kaymer added: There is definitely a good feeling about this year’s Irish Open and I think Rory has done a great job to get such a great field for the event and to create a really nice atmosphere about the tournament. He is very passionate about the tournament and also the golf course at Royal County Down, so I am sure it will be a great week.”
More than 80,000 fans are expected to attend over the four days and tournament organisers have said that Sunday is already close to being a sellout.
