World class field leaves competition wide Open

WOMEN'S IRISH OPEN:THEY ARRIVED to the club house yesterday with their bright clothes and year-round tans adding a snazzy jolt of energy and flair to a soft Meath morning.

The Americans flooded into Killeen Castle like the favourite aunts arriving back to the old sod, dressed differently but glamorously all the same, with their decent smiles and suitcases bursting at the seams with hidden promises.

Many of the heavyweights of the game have descended on Dunsany to test their mettle on the rich Irish turf of Killeen Castle and having a peek at the course chosen for next year’s Solheim Cup is an added subtext to an AIB Irish Open field swollen with talent.

At the heart of that professional mix, Ireland’s young amateurs have been placed in the field and all three, twins Leona and Lisa Maguire and Danielle McVeigh, are in good company for their opening rounds this morning.

Fifteen-year-old Leona already played nine holes with world number four, and one of the tournament favourites, Suzann Pettersen, earlier in the week, but will have her chance today to walk a full competitive 18 holes with the highest ranked player in the draw.

Pettersen won the title two years ago when it was staged at Portmarnock Links and is seeking her first win of the season, having made nine top-10 finishes in 12 events.

The Cavan sisters and McVeigh are attracting as much attention as many of the professionals and all have been teamed up with big-name players as the tournament kicks off on the Jack Nicklaus course at 8am.

Lisa opens her championship with England veteran and bon viveur Laura Davies and Australian British Open runner-up Katherine Hull. McVeigh tees off with Anja Monke and Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist, who is currently ninth in the rankings.

Rebecca Coakley, at 232 in the world and 28 in the Solheim Cup rankings, is the highest positioned Irish professional and is joined in the community of “Team Ireland” by Hazel Kavanagh, Martina Gillen, Tara Delaney and Clare Coughlan-Ryan, all hoping to snatch a piece of the €500,000 prize fund, €75,000 of which goes to the winner. The national championship will bring that little bit of added pressure.

“Yes, I think so. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t, especially when you have family and friends coming out to watch you,” said Coakley. “Everybody wants you to do well. The great thing is they don’t put pressure on me. I suppose the only pressure is that you really want to do well for them as well as yourself. I think the key is just to enjoy it. If you enjoy it, and you play well, so be it. If you don’t, you don’t.”

American Angela Stanford, ranked 13 in the world, has consistently made cuts this year with 13 from 14 events but like Pettersen, who has a minor hip problem, she has yet to win a title, although she was runner up in this year’s Sybase matchplay Championship.

Korean In-Kyung Kim finished fourth at the US Open and tied fifth at the LPGA Championship. She has had two career wins but again, like some of the other hot names in the draw, is seeking her first win of 2010.

“It’s pretty wide open to be honest,” said Pettersen. “I think the back nine has a bit more character than the front. Right now the rough isn’t up so the greens are undulated. But that’s what you expect from a Jack Nicklaus golf course. That’s his style. The wind obviously makes this course tough.

“Yardage-wise it’s fairly short but with these conditions and the wind, it’s playing a good whack.”

Italian Diana Luna is also back to defend her title, having giving birth to a daughter, Elena, in the interim. She has her mother and husband on hand for domestic duties but hasn’t really found winning form just yet.

She finished 77th in the recent Evian Masters and missed the cut at the British Open but she’s hoping that child birth will eventually make her stronger as it has with athletes in other sports.

“I think the hardest thing is to make a score when you have not been playing for a long time,” said Luna. “You can hit lots of good shots but you lose contact with the game. I have the same distance. The thing is you get tired sooner during the round. I think at the end having a baby makes you stronger even physically but just not immediately after.”

And the others? Brittany Lincicome, the blond American and Barbie partner (though she has declared it was never her go-to doll), won the Nabisco Championship in 2009, the first major of the LPGA Tour season, and Brittany Lang the world number 30, who tied fifth for the US Open.

Thirty-seven-year-old Sophie Gustafson, a three-times winner, has won more times on Irish soil than any other Tour player.

An Irish Open looking very open indeed.