Golf Irish Open:  For years, it's been a hidden gem; over the next four days, Co Louth Golf Club - or Baltray as it is known - will be unfurled to the world, and the wonder is that nobody thought it worthy of playing host to an Irish Open before now,  writes Philip Reid at Baltray

But, in a classic sense of better late than never, this classic links will renew hostilities with old foes, among them pre-championship favourite Darren Clarke, and prepare to outwit some new ones.

As Clarke, one of those who conquered the links in his old amateur days, remarked, "the course is fantastic, as I remember it".

In truth, it has always been a great course and it is testimony to Nissan's stewardship since assuming title sponsorship that they have taken the championship, one of the oldest on tour, back to its roots on links courses.

Yesterday, on the eve of the €1.9-million tournament, it looked resplendent and, as ever, how many birdies and bogeys the field will devour depends very much on the weather and particularly on whether the wind should blow.

The main thing, though, is that the course - tweaked in places with some new tees and new bunkers but reduced to a par 72 of 7,031 yards - has been set up to test players fairly. Good shots will be rewarded and bad ones punished.

Unfortunately, given the number of fall-outs over the weekend, which included Thomas Bjorn through illness, there was another casualty yesterday with six-time major champion Nick Faldo withdrawing due to a shoulder injury.

Still, five of the world's top 50 are playing - Clarke, Padraig Harrington, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Trevor Immelman and Peter Lonard - while 16 players inside the top 30 on the current European Tour money list are also competing.

Clarke is favourite, not only because of his tied-11th finish at Royal Troon in the British Open, but more due to the manner of his finish there, which yielded three birdies in the last four holes.

Finally, it would seem, his putter has discovered some heat. However, he also boasts top-five finishes this summer in the British Masters, the TPC of Europe and the Volvo PGA and, as we saw with his win in the European Open three years ago, his game does not suffer when he plays in front of expectant home galleries.

And, then, there is the little matter of him renewing acquaintance with his old caddie JP Fitzgerald, a member of Co Louth who knows the nuances of these links as well as anyone. The arrangement for the pair to be reunited for this week was made at the time of their agreed break-up back in April, after the Heritage Classic in Harbour Town. But could there be a touch of fate about it all?

"We've grown up playing a lot of golf here together and in other tournaments and I much prefer playing this course knowing where to hit it and where not to hit it rather than coming here for the first time," said Clarke of the link-up, backing the old assertion that local knowledge is a good thing.

Meanwhile, Clarke confirmed yesterday he is renewing his partnership with Billy Foster in Whistling Straits next month. "My arrangement with Peter Coleman was always a temporary one and our parting is completely amicable."

Clarke denied there was any friction between them because of the mis-clubbing that occurred on the final hole of the first round at the British Open. Coleman took up duties for Clarke at the British Masters in May while Foster had until yesterday been caddying for Thomas Bjorn.

It seems there is a carousel of movement in the caddie shack and, for good measure, Harrington's former caddie Dave McNeilly starts work this week with the Swede Niclas Fasth.

Clarke's finish at Troon has convinced him "the world is not such a bad place after all . . . (but) the key to success this week is to play the par threes well. They are very tough and if you miss them the wrong side it is bogey or double bogey. So, look towards the winner as the guys who plays the par threes well."

He added: "If the wind blows here, to get it on the par three greens will be very tough. If you miss, there are run-offs (on the fifth, seventh and 15th) and you're hitting as much as a two- or three-iron into the prevailing wind."

Indeed, Harrington - at eighth, the highest-ranked player in the world competing here - put the short fifth, all 173 yards of it, "as one of the best holes in the world . . . it is not a beast of a hole, just a superb par three".

Of course, there's always the hoary chestnut of when will another Irishman win the Irish Open. Not since John O'Leary in 1982 has anyone managed it, but it would seem the quality of Irish players on tour these days - Clarke, Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley (who won an Irish PGA here), Gary Murphy and Peter Lawrie are all inside the top 90 on the current Order of Merit - allied with a considerable back-up presence could make this the ideal week to change that drab statistic.

But the foreign challenge, representing no fewer than 20 other countries, shouldn't be underestimated. As with the Viking longships that sailed up the River Boyne all those centuries ago, and another more historical battle that took place not too far away in another age, this land has known a fair few skirmishes in its time. On this occasion, the golfing battle for the Irish Open title should add to the lore of the area, in the nicest possible way.

Pro-am hotelier Bill Kelly's idea to run a competition at his resort in Co Wexford with the dream prize of a place in the Irish Open Pro-Am proved to be a real winner when they teamed-up with Swedish professional Robert Karlsson to win the pre-tournament event yesterday.

Kelly's team returned a 15-under-par 57 - one score to count in the pro-am format - to win the competition, with David Simpson and Gilbert Barrington contributing to the effort.

They narrowly defeated an Ulster Bank team led by professional Ian Poulter.