Peter Lawrie Amongst The K Club Invites

Dubai Duty Free Irish Open 2015 - Getty Images

Peter Lawrie has received an invitation to the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation which will be played at The K Club from May 19-22 in County Kildare.

Also included in the cherished list are Irish golfers Paul Dunne, of Hartl Resort, in Bad Griesbach; Gavin Moynihan of The Island GC; Kevin Phelan of Mount Juliet; Ruaidhri McGee of Rosapenna. Along with Ryan Evans of Wellingborough GC and Seve Benson of the Wentworth Club.

They all are joined Martin Kaymer, who has added his name to the all-star field, with a host of his fellow Ryder Cup players and European Tour winners also entered for the 61st edition of Ireland’s national Open.

Kaymer makes his fourth appearance - in what is now a €4 million tournament - with a tied tenth finish at Adare Manor in 2008 as his best performance to date. 

The German has not won though a regular European Tour event for five years – his last victory being the 2014 US Open Championship. But a top six finish on his last outing at Real Valderrama Club Open de España, Hosted by Sergio Garcia Foundation two weeks ago offered encouraging signs. 

Not unlike The K Club, which hosted a memorable Ryder Cup in 2006, Kaymer became synonymous with golf’s greatest team contest after holing the putt which ensured the trophy would remain in European hands at Medinah Country Club in 2012. 

A strong showing at The K Club under the eye of Europe’s 2016 Captain, Darren Clarke, would enhance Kaymer’s claims for a fourth straight Ryder Cup appearance. Englishman Chris Wood and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger also be hoping for inclusion in Europe’s line-up later in the year. 

Rafa Cabrera Bello, Soren Kjeldsen, Matt Fitzpatrick and Andy Sullivan all currently occupy automatic qualifying places for 2016 The Ryder Cup. 

Danny Willett will also be teeing up at The K Club has already confirmed his place at Hazeltine National in September following his victory at The Masters last month. 

Peter Lawrie was part of that strong field in Valderrama two weeks ago courtesy of being a former Open de España winner. Over the four days the Dubliner made good use of his return to a European Tour event with a solid performance in a tough field and testing conditions.

“It’s great news to get a start at our National event, said Peter from Rabata in Morocco, "Even more so as it has been revitalised by Rory McIlroy and Dubai Duty Free.” 

“With the Trophée Hassan this week it will offer another great opportunity to fine tune a few things and compete in another tough field.”

“So I’m really looking forward to the next few weeks,” concluded Lawrie

Lawrie lost his automatic playing rights after finishing 124th in the Race to Dubai last season.

*Peter Lawrie is sponsored by PGA Catalunya [Girona] and NewstalkFM [Dublin]

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Lowry Eyes K Cub for Irish Win

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Shane Lowry is at a loss to explain his fluctuating fortunes during many of his tournaments this year as he prepares for an assault on this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at the K Club. 

Lowry’s season has been peppered with sensational starts but underwhelming subsequent rounds and it was the same story last weekend, where the Offaly man registered rounds of 65 and 68 before a disastrous 78 ended his chance of victory in the Players Championship at Sawgrass.

“If you look at it historically, I’ve been pretty average in opening rounds and I play my way into tournaments.

“I just need to learn to keep the foot on the pedal.

“I was probably only two shots away from really thinking I had a chance going out last Sunday, so I’m not that far away.

“Hopefully, this week is the week where I can make that change and play well for four rounds.”

Lowry caused a huge upset when he claimed the Irish Open as an amateur in Baltray seven years ago today, but struggles to recall the detail of what should have been an unforgettable day. 

Asked about what he remembered of his landmark win in Louth, he said: “Not much, to be honest.

“Obviously, it was a day that changed my life.

“Well, I’m not sure if I wouldn’t be sitting here anyway, but it changed the course of my career a little bit anyway.

“I don’t really remember much.

“I just remember from looking back on videos and photos of just winning.

“I can only imagine how it felt - I don’t know how it felt at the time. I’d love to go back and relive it for a few seconds.

“It’s something I’ll look back at as I get older and older, and when I’m old and retired and finished playing golf, I’m sure I’ll look back at those videos and think ‘yeah, that was pretty cool’.”

The 29-year-old may have ticked the Irish Open of his bucket list, but is now keen to achieve an amateur-professional double in the event.

“Even if I hadn’t won it as an amateur, to win it as a pro would be one of my goals,” he said.

“To have that on your CV - winning your home tournament as an amateur and a pro - would be pretty nice.”

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Bank of Ireland Sponsors Irish Open

Bank backs Irish Open

Bank of Ireland has announced a three-year sponsorship deal with the Irish Open golf tournament. The Dubai Duty-Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation, a charitable foundation set up by Rory McIlroy, has added the bank to its list of official sponsors ahead of the 2016 tournament, which takes place at the K Club from May 19th to 22nd.

Some 100,000 people are expected to attend the Kildare venue over the course of the four-day tournament, with TV coverage in Ireland being shared between RTÉ and Sky.

As part of the sponsorship, Bank of Ireland is running a competition for golf clubs where the prize is to have the club branding displayed on the golfing attire of Shane Lowry on the Thursday and Friday of the competition.

The bank will also support the Irish Open Golf Skills Challenge for under-15s, run by the European Tour in conjunction with the Confederation of Golf in Ireland.

The competition, which is open to all clubs, aims to help develop young golfers in their putting, chipping, iron play and driving skills. Two winning teams will be given the opportunity to attend the pro-am in Kildare on May 18th.

Bank of Ireland’s chief executive of corporate banking Tom Hayes said the bank was “proud to be associated with an event that has developed into one of the most popular tournaments on the European Tour”.

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Irish Open Continues eir Business

DDF Irish Open 2016

eir Business has teamed up with The European Tour for the third year in a row to become an official sponsor of the 2016 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation.

The tournament takes place at the world-renowned K Club, in County Kildare, from May 19-22, and will bring many of the biggest international golfing stars to Ireland, including tournament host Rory McIlroy. This year’s prize fund is €4million – the biggest in the tournament’s history – with the winner receiving €675,500.

Last year’s champion, Denmark’s Søren Kjeldsen, will defend his title, with more than 100,000 visitors expected at The K Club, the host venue of The 2006 Ryder Cup. eir Business, which offers communications solutions for businesses, was also a sponsor of the tournament in 2014, when it was held at Fota Island, and last year at Royal County Down Golf Club. 

Rory Colville, Championship Director of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, said: “We are delighted that eir Business will be an official sponsor of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation for the third consecutive year. The support of our sponsors is essential to the success of the Irish Open, and we look forward to having eir Business as part of the sponsorship family at The K Club.” 

Commenting on the announcement, Lisa Kelly, Head of Marketing, eir Business, said: “The Irish Open is one of the biggest sporting events of the year in Ireland, and eir Business is very proud to support the tournament. While it attracts international stars, it also showcases the best of Irish golfers, professionals and amateurs, and so it has many synergies with our drive to support Irish businesses.

“It is fantastic that we have such incredible sporting ambassadors like Rory McIlroy who promote Ireland with such flair, and we’re looking forward to an exciting tournament in May.”

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McIlroy Links Recipe for Irish Open

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Rory McIlroy insists he will not be begging big name US stars to tee it up in the Irish Open at The K Club next May.

The Holywood golfer promised to return the favour for the likes of Rickie Fowler, Ernie Els, and Sergio Garcia after they turned up at Royal Co Down in May to help the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, hosted by the Rory Foundation.

The Down man has committed to doing things for Fowler, Els, and Garcia’s charitable events in return but it appears that he is not prepared to continue doing favours going forward.

While there were high hopes that the likes of Tiger Woods or Dustin Johnson would be persuaded by McIlroy to turn up in Kildare from May 19-22 next year, Woods is already out of the equation having undergone back surgery last month.

Instead, four-time major winner McIlroy hopes the massive prize fund — up from €2.5m to €4m next year — will be enough to attract a stellar field.

Asked which US stars he was targeting, McIlroy said: “Really I’m not. I think the prize fund, that speaks for itself. I’m not going to do any IOU’s this year like I did last year.

“It’s a fantastic tournament in its own right. I mean, it’s a bit of an awkward date on the calendar and obviously Royal Co Down attracted a lot of guys because of the golf course that is.

“That’s the sort of thing that I would hope for in the future; that the golf courses and the increased prize fund obviously attract a few more players.”

McIlroy’s dream is to host the Irish Open in a links every year as part of a three-week links swing before the Scottish Open and the Open Championship.

But he admits that the lack of links courses — Portmarnock and Royal Dublin are currently no-go venues for the government backers or the tour’s sponsors because they are men only — makes that dream a challenge.

“I would love to always see it on a links course,” McIlroy said. “We’re working on it. I’d love to see the Irish Open change date to closer to the Open to have a little bit more of a links swing going into the Open, where maybe it would be the Irish Open, Scottish Open, and the Open, or something like that.

“That’s a long way down the road but I’d like to see it go to that.

“But the European Tour have been fantastic. They, along with myself, have made a huge commitment to the Irish Open for the next three years and hopefully they go well and we can go on from there.”

The European Tour is believed to be struggling to take the Irish Open to Lough Erne in 2017, as announced by Acting NI first minister Arlene Foster last year, with Portstewart recently emerging as an alternative venue.

Asked about the Lough Erne problem, McIlroy dodged the question, replying: “Right now we are just concentrating on this year and trying to make The K Club as good as it can be and we’ll go from there.”

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