Westwood confirmed

Lee Westwood won't require a late sponsor's invite to this year's Murphy's Irish Open. The 26-year-old Englishman, who was forced last year to rely on an 11th hour invite to play in the championship, yesterday confirmed his participation in the event which takes place at Druids Glen on July 1st-4th.

The move ends speculation that Westwood might follow his ISM stable-mate Darren Clarke, who has decided not to play in next month's tournament due to the payment of an appearance fee to American John Daly.

The sponsors recently confirmed that the policy of paying promotional money to players had now ceased and would not form part of their marketing strategy for future years. But it is claimed that Daly's participation on this occasion is due to a promotional deal with the host club.

Indeed, Padraic Liston, the managing director of Murphy's Brewery, is insistent that the size of the prize-fund - and the championship's ranking on the tour - should be sufficient incentive to lure Europe's top players.

Since assuming title sponsorship in 1994, Murphy's have increased the prizefund from IR£600,000 to the £1 million sterling mark this year and the top prize has increased from IR£100,000 to the £166,000 sterling on offer to the winner next month.

And Liston's opinion seems to be proving immediately correct because, apart from Westwood, three-time Irish Open champion Bernhard Langer, who failed to secure an invite to this week's US Open at Pinehurst, has also confirmed he is headed for Druids.

US Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal has yet to confirm his participation - although there is optimism that the Spaniard will do so before the deadline. Final entries for the championship close on Thursday, but the tournament organisers have decided to hold on to two sponsor's exemptions in case a "big gun", as was the case with Westwood last year, decides to belatedly alter their schedule. As things stand, three of those sponsor's 10 invites have been extended to Irish players: Richard Coughlan, who was unable to take up a similar invitation last season due to committing himself to the US Tour, Raymond Burns and Sean Quinlivan.

Meanwhile, Greg Norman appears to have no fears for the future of the £12.5 million development at Doonbeg, Co Clare, where he is to design a major links. His reaction coincided with the completion last weekend of an oral hearing by An Bord Pleanala into the threat which the project poses to a rare snail, vertigio angustior.

"People dealing with this matter tell me there should not be a problem. Like anything else, you just want to work it out so that you don't step on anyone's toes."