Scotsman will miss his bit of rough

COLIN MONTGOMERIE will receive a rude awakening when he revisits Druids Glen next week to defend his Murphy's Irish Open crown - the rough which last year collared the greens has been removed at the insistence of his fellow PGA European Tour professionals.

"We had a specific request from many tour players not to repeat such rough," admitted David Linnane, the tournament director, at a final press briefing yesterday prior to the event.

"The general body of tournament players, questioned after last year's championship, felt that courses throughout Europe should be set up the same way.

"It was decided that the wishes of the general body, rather than one or two individuals, should be adhered to, so the rough on the approach to the greens has been removed," he added.

Last year, the European Tour set up the Co Wicklow course in much the same way as the USGA prepare for a US Open. The result was that just six players managed to beat par for the 72 holes and the greatest advocate of its set up, Montgomerie, emerged as the winner. The removal of the rough could result in a difference of four or five shots over the four rounds, believes Denis Kane of Druids Glen.

Meanwhile, the organisers are waiting until after this weekend's French Open in Paris to finalise their wild card selections.

As things stand, eight of the 10 sponsors invites have been issued. The recipients are John McHenry, Eoghan O'Connell, Graham Spring and Gary Murphy, all Ireland, New Zealand's Michael Campbell and Michael Long, Italy's Alberto Binaghi and Spain's Igor Izulain.

The two other invitations are being held in case one of the game's big names decides to seek a late entry, although Francis Howley, who lost his card last season, must be considered unlucky not to have received a wild card yet and must be a strong candidate for a late call-up to the field.

Indeed, there is an exceptionally strong Irish entry so far, with 24 professionals and four amateurs guaranteed to compete against a strong international field of 156 players which has a hard core of European players.

"Our brief was to assemble the best possible European field in this Ryder Cup year and we believe we have managed to do just that," said Paddy Rossie, of event managers Murray Consultants.

Next week's tournament will break all broadcasting records for an Irish Open. Apart from coverage on RTE, the tournament is being screened live on Sky Sports for the first time, as well as on the Golf Channel in the USA and Japan and Sports Australia in Australia. In all, the Irish Open will receive 202 hours of live coverage on stations worldwide.