IRISH OPEN NEWS: THE NEXT time Pádraig Harrington competes on European soil will be in Ireland after the three-time major winner yesterday confirmed he will play in next month’s 3 Irish Open which takes place at Co Louth Golf Club from May 14th-17th.
Harrington was unable to find top gear at last week’s Masters as too many errors around Augusta cost the Dubliner his chance of going for three majors in a row after winning last year’s British Open and US PGA Championship. With talk of the “Paddy Slam” put to bed Harrington said he will turn his attentions to the US Open at Bethpage in New York in June.
Beforehand his next scheduled outing is the PGA Tour’s Quail Hollow Championship at the end of the month and golf’s unofficial fifth major, the Players’ Championship at Sawgrass (May 7th-10th), one week before the Irish Open.
Harrington has always considered the Irish Open to be his fifth major and confirmation of the tournament’s biggest draw will come as welcome news both to organisers and sponsors.
At 3’s official sponsorship launch in Dublin last month the European Tour said they would explore the possibility of laying on a private jet in the hope attracting more top players competing at Sawgrass, but nothing has been confirmed at this stage.
Either way Harrington’s participation will afford him the chance of adding to the 2007 Irish Open win he enjoyed at Adare Manor in Limerick when he bridged the 25-year gap to the last Irish winner when John O’Leary won in 1982.
The world number five said that victory played an instrumental part in him going on to claim his first major at Carnoustie.
“You couldn’t underestimate how important winning the Irish Open was in terms of going onto win the Open at Carnoustie,” said Harrington. “It told me that I could go and win a tournament under a lot of focus, pressure and distractions, which gives you a huge amount of self-confidence when you can come through something like that.”
With the Irish Open returning to one of Ireland’s best links courses, Harrington believes it will benefit his preparations for this year’s British Open Championship at Turnberry.
“I think that with this year’s event being on a classic links course like Baltray, it could instil a lot of confidence and assist when looking ahead to Turnberry and going there to try and defend the Open again,” he added.
“Playing the Irish Open on a links course will, in a way, naturally start my preparations for the Open because so many of the conditions will be similar.
“I know the course (Baltray) well and have a lot of memories – I can remember some tough days out there in East of Ireland Championships.”
Prize money at Baltray is up €500,000 to €3 million compared to last year after 3 came on board in a three-year deal. It also places it at the upper end of the scale in terms of prize money on the European Tour schedule.
Outside of the four majors and the World Golf Championships, only five tournaments carry a greater purse; the Dunhill Links Championship (€4m), French Open (€4m), HSBC Championship (€3.9m), Volvo World Matchplay (€3.25m) and the Scottish Open (€3.3m).
John Daly is another big name planning to compete in this year’s event. The two-time major winner is currently serving a six-month ban from the PGA Tour but is scheduled to play the Spanish Open, Italian Open an Irish Open in a three-week stint in Europe.
Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley and other leading Irish players are also scheduled to compete in their national championship.
Ticket details
Adult daily gate €20; Adult advance €15; Adult season gate €50; Adult season advance €35; Senior daily gate €15; Daily advance €10; Senior season gate €35; Senior season advance €25; Under-16 free if accompanied by a paying adult.
