Emirates Flies into Irish Open Action

Photo: Jorg Dichmann

Emirates, the Official Airline of the Irish Open, is making final preparations for its newest Irish sponsorship, with the finishing touches being put to the international carrier’s two marquees and course branding, which have already been spotted on the grounds of Royal Portrush Golf Club.

The Irish Open, the final three days of which have sold out, is being held for the fourth time at Royal Portrush, and the first since 1947.

“Since we launched the Emirates service in Ireland in January, we’ve been connecting thousands of people direct from Dublin to Dubai and onwards to over 120 destinations,” said Margaret Shannon, Country Manager for Ireland. 

“For four days, we’ll be making some new connections as the Emirates team meets with and welcomes the thousands of golf fans at Royal Portrush, and we are looking forward to a spectacular tournament.

“This sponsorship affirms Emirates’ commitment to the Irish market and further extends our support of a sport that brings people together from all over the world – players and spectators alike.”

It has come as no surprise that this tournament has caught the imagination of the golfing public, with local favourites Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell attracting many of the 100,000 spectators expected to flock through the gates at Royal Portrush. 

The stellar line-up of world-class players also includes Colin Montgomerie, Shane Lowry, Padraig Harrington, Francesco Molinari, Paul Lawrie and Keegan Bradley.

In the public area, Emirates will give golf fans a taste of the ‘Emirates Experience’ with its new club house, a 25m lounge area which will provide fans the same warm welcome passengers receive on their Emirates flights, with cabin crew offering cooling face towels, among other customised service features.

In addition, spectators will be able to keep track of the action on the course from the comfortable seating area which features a plasma screen with a live broadcast feed, in addition to accessing unique golf applications on specially-designated iPads.

The pre-tournament Pro-Am will take place on Wednesday June 27, in which a number of celebrities – including actors Bill Murray and Aidan Quinn, and singer Ronan Keating – are expected to play. Emirates will host three teams in the Pro-Am, all of whom will get the unique chance to play with internationally-renowned golfers. 

As a leading supporter of golf tournaments across the globe, Emirates is the Official Airline of 16 events in 2012, as well as the Official Partner of the European Ryder Cup Team. Nine of the tournaments it sponsors are on the European Tour International Schedule, including the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity, Alstom Open de France, Avantha Masters, Malaysian Open, BMW International Open, WGC-HSBC Champions, Barclays Singapore Open and Ballantine’s Championship.

It also supports the Emirates Airline Invitational, Thailand Open, Australian PGA Championship and the Emirates Australian Open, as well as the Japan Open Golf Championship (Men’s, Ladies and Seniors).

Emirates extends its support of golf by allowing passengers to check in a set of golf clubs free of charge – in addition to their normal checked baggage allowance – in any class of service on all of its flights.

Emirates flies daily from Dublin to Dubai with one of the most modern aircrafts in the world, the Boeing 777-300ER, which was introduced to the route last month, increasing capacity by over 50 per cent, because of strong demand. 

Customers departing Dublin can take advantage of the airline’s 123 destination network, travelling to places such as Australia, India, the Seychelles, Thailand and South Africa, with just one stop at Emirates’ exclusive Terminal 3 in Dubai.

Dyson Ready for Dunluce Defense

Simon Dyson is relishing the chance to defend his Irish Open title at Royal Portrush Golf Club. 

Dyson played “the best golf of my career” when taking the title 12 months ago at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club, but the Englishman will have a very different challenge to contend with this week, when Harry Colt’s design hosts the €2million event for the first time since 1947.

The 34 year old feels very much at home on links courses, having won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, the KLM Open twice at Kennemer Golf & Country Club and finished inside the top ten when Royal St George’s hosted The Open Championship last year.

Despite his dominant performance in Killarney last year, Dyson admitted to a twinge of excitement when he first discovered the 57th staging of Ireland’s National Open was moving north of the border to the Dunluce Links.

He said: “I love links golf – it just suits my eye. Killarney was a fantastic venue, and I loved playing there last year. But I’ve got to admit, there was a bit of a smile when I heard it was coming to a links course here.

“It’s what I grew up on. Playing amateur golf you play a lot of links golf, and I lived ten minutes down the road from Ganton Golf Club, one of the better links courses in Britain. So links is my favourite type of golf, by far. 

“When you stand on a tee box, you’ve got to visualise the shot. It’s not like on a 500-yard par four where you know you’ve got to hit it 320 yards off the tee – this is more about manoeuvring the ball, which is probably the best aspect of my game. 

“When I’m playing well, I can hit the high draw, the low draw, the high cut, the low cut, and I like to visualise every shot. A lot of the courses that we play now are 7,500 yards, which kind of takes that aspect out of the game. So it’s nice to get back to how golf was first played.”

Having fully recovered from a stressed pelvis which kept him on the sidelines for six weeks, Dyson is determined to get his season back on track and make a late bid for a Ryder Cup berth. 

After an encouraging performance at last week’s BMW International Open in Cologne, where he finished in a tie for 12th place, Dyson feels his form and fitness are slowly returning.

He said: “I made the cut in the US Open for the first time two weeks ago, which was pleasing. I had a decent weekend and moved up a little bit. Then I played some really good golf last week. I started to find my swing, and probably if I had been a little bit more match fit, I could have contended. But for my second week back, it was a pretty good performance, and hopefully I can build on it this week.”

Dyson will begin the defence of his crown in the company of Irish Major Champions Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell.

Irish Open Time Sheet

Simon Dyson will launch his defence of the Irish Open alongside local hero Graeme McDowell and three-time Major Champion Padraig Harrington when the first round gets underway at Royal Portrush Golf Club on Thursday.

Dyson, who claimed his fifth European Tour title at the 2011 Irish Open at Killarney Golf and Fishing Club 12 months ago, is looking to become the sixth man in the history of the tournament to record back-to-back victories in the event, and with it join a select club that includes golfing legends Sir Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Colin Montgomerie.

The Englishman takes to the Dunluce Links among the early starters at 7.50am on Thursday morning with 2010 US Open Champion McDowell, who was born just minutes away from Portrush Golf Club, and the ever-popular Irishman Padraig Harrington.

The two groups following the defending champion, meanwhile, will also retain local interest as Ballymoney-born Michael Hoey – already a winner this year at the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco – tees it up at 8am, before newly-crowned Amateur Champion Alan Dunbar, the latest in a long line of Northern Irish golfing stars, makes his second start in a professional event at 8.10am.

Also returning to his native land for the first Irish Open to be held in Northern Ireland for almost 60 years is current World Number Two Rory McIlroy, who tees off at 12.50pm alongside Branden Grace and tournament debutant and US PGA Champion Keegan Bradley. Grace has undoubtedly been one of the stories of the season so far, having already claimed three victories this year since gaining his European Tour card at the Qualifying School last December.

Open Champion Darren Clarke, who lives in the hills overlooking Portrush Golf Club, is drawn in the group preceding compatriot McIlroy at 12.40pm alongside Ryder Cup star Francesco Molinari and Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello, while Gareth Maybin launches the triumvirate of Northern Irish stars in succession when he tees off at 12.30pm on Thursday.

Scotland’s George Murray will have the honour of hitting the first tee shot in the 57th edition of the Irish Open at 7.30am on Thursday morning, and with a parade of stars to follow it promises to be a thrilling week.

Irish Open draw

 

McDowell To Enjoy Home Event

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Graeme McDowell says he "expects to play well" in this week's Irish Open at his hometown course at Royal Portrush.

McDowell, who won the US Open at Pebble Beach in 2010, said: "There will be a bit of extra pressure and the event will have the feel of a major.

"To see the town I grew up in scrubbed up and ready for one of the biggest events on the European Tour makes me very proud.

"The golf course will be of major championship standard."

He added: "There will be plenty of expectation from the fans. The course is in fantastic condition and it's exciting to have it laid out and conditioned for a Tour event.

“To be one of the three or four guys who helped make this happen through our major successes also gives me a huge sense of pride”Graeme McDowell

"Royal Portrush is a golf club with a huge amount of history, given that the Open was been staged here in 1951.

"But in the modern era this is one of the proudest moments for this golf club, for the area and for Northern Ireland.

"It's a huge thrill to see such a great field assembled and everyone is buzzing and excited after all the hard work and preparation."

McDowell became the first of a trio of Northern Ireland major winners when he won at Pebble Beach, with Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke following suit with wins in the US Open and Open Championship in 2011.

He added: "To be one of the three or four guys who helped make this happen through our major successes also gives me a huge sense of pride - it's great to have played a part and it's kind of a dream come true".

McDowell has been paired with defending champion Simon Dyson and Padraig Harrington for Thursday's opening round.

The trio will start at the 10th tee at 07:50 BST, while Clarke and McIlroy are among the afternoon starters.

Leading tee times for Irish Open round one on Thursday

10th hole

07:30 BST - John Daly, Peter Lawrie, Thomas Levet

07:40 - Nicolas Colsaerts, Jose Maria Olazabal, Paul Lawrie

07:50 - Graeme cDowell, Simon Dyson, Padraig Harrington

08:00 - Michael Hoey, Thongchai Jaidee, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano

1st hole

12:30 - Gareth Maybin, Thorblem Olesen, Darren Fichardt

12:40 - Francesco Molinari, Darren Clarke, Rafa Cabrera-Bello

12:50 - Rory McIlroy, Branden Grace, Keegan Bradley

13:10 - George Coetzee, Colin Montgomerie, Paul McGinley

Lowry Misses out on Lytham Spot

2009 Irish Open Champion Shane Lowry, Peter Lawrie and Paul McGinley missed out on one of the 10 places available for the Open Championship at Royal at the International Final Qualifying at Sunningdale on Monday.

Lowry tied 21st on two-under, two strokes outside a five-man play-off for the final two berths,

posting one-under-par rounds of 69 and 68 on the Old and New courses.

Peter Lawrie was two-over for his 36 holes after shooting 72 and 69.

McGinley was one of more than two dozen players to withdraw after their first round after opening with a 75. 

Victory for the Dubluer this week at Royal Portrush would see McGinley through on the seven-tournament 'Open Mini-Order of Merit', which concludes on Sunday - third place in the Irish Open probably would be good enough.

England's James Morrison led on eight-under at Sunningdale. He'll be joined at Lytham by Sam Walker, Alejando Canizares, Richard Finch, Matthew Baldwin, Jamie Donaldson, Ross Fisher, Marcus Fraser, Lee Slattery and Thorbjorn Olesen.

Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal missed out on places at The Open in a 36-hole qualifier at Sunningdale on Monday.

Monty needed to hole a bunker shot to go into a play-off but failed, finishing with rounds of 66 and 70.

Olazabal, his successor as Ryder Cup skipper, had rounds of 67 and 71.

Sam Walker will finally make his debut at Royal Lytham next month after 10 attempts. Walker, 34, a Challenge Tour winner in Scotland at the weekend, was on the road at 5am to make his tee-time. 

Jamie Donaldson made it through by one shot after equalling the course record of 62, but BMW weekend winner Danny Willett missed out, as did Tom Lewis, who led after the opening round at Sandwich last year.