Philip Walton will be a significant attraction when Thegolfmarket.com Tour makes its Irish breakthrough next week, with a €75,000 tournament at Tulfarris. Indeed the event, on June 14th to 16th, will also have all the leading young Irish professionals in action, including current European Tour campaigner Gary Murphy.

Formerly the Hippo/Players Tour, the enterprise, spearheaded by Dara O'Neill, is a developmental tour which provides aspiring touring professionals with the experience to help them towards the highest level. "We are especially pleased to have such an outstanding venue for our first Irish event," said O'Neill yesterday.

Indicative of the quality of their entries is that a recent event in Bristol, the Tours Western Classic, was won by former Volvo PGA champion and Ryder Cup player, Paul Way. And among the Tulfarris entries is Wayne Westner, who partnered Ernie Els to a record-breaking victory for South Africa in the World Cup at Erinvale in 1996.

The Irish contingent will include Sean Quinlivan, Graham Spring, Patrick Geraghty, Brian Omelia, Conor Mallon, Francis Howley, Fintan Dwyer, Peter Lawrie and Ciaran Carroll.