Rory McIlroy to give Irish Open a miss

Confirmed: Rory McIlroy will miss next month’s Horizon Irish Open at Mount Juliet in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny. Quell surprise, if we’re entirely honest.

The world number eight has been drip-feeding hints of such a move in recent months, his decision to do so coming on clarification of his upcoming playing schedule that is by any standard a hectic one – starting next week with the Memorial and then including the RBC Canadian Open (where he defends), the US Open and the Travelers – with the Irish Open a casualty of the loaded itinerary.

If he were to include the Irish Open from June 30th-July 3rd, it would have meant a five-week straight run of tournaments with the JP McManus Invitational Pro-Am making for a five-and-a-half week stretch. It was never on, especially given the proximity to the 150th Open at St Andrews which is the championship on most hit lists for this year.

McIlroy will indeed play in the JP McManus event (along with a who’s who of the professional game) and the decision to opt out of the Irish Open on this occasion must be accepted, given that he was the player who more than anyone pumped new blood into its revival when assuming the role of host from 2015 to 2018.

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“I’ll play these next four weeks and then it’s two weeks out from competitive golf I guess. I’ll go to Adare Manor and play JP’s Pro-Am and then just probably be around the area that week, play some links golf and then head to St Andrews maybe the weekend before to get some prep done,” said McIlroy of his planning.

McIlroy, a winner of the championship when he hosted at The K Club in 2016, previously missed playing in the Irish Open in 2020 at Lahinch and 2021 at Galgorm Castle but returned for last year’s tournament where he finished tied-59th at Mount Juliet.

Next month’s Irish Open at Mount Juliet will see a significant increase in prizemoney this year with a purse of €5.6 million on the arrival of Horizon Therapeutics as title sponsor with tickets already sold out for Sunday’s final round with a limited number of tickets available for the other tournament days.

Shane Lowry, Séamus Power, Tyrrell Hatton, Pádraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Thomas Pieters are among the players already committed to playing. Next year’s tournament will return to The K Club as part of an association that will see the Straffan venue host the tournament three times over a five-year period.