Just one more piece of the jigsaw has still to slot into place to enable Ballybunion Golf Club to play host to next year's Murphy's Irish Open - and that is for the club itself to decide whether or not it wants to stage the championship in millennium year.
A series of meetings in recent months between the PGA European Tour, the sponsors, the tournament organisers, the club and the Garda have eased any concerns about possible infrastructural problems (mainly accommodation and traffic access) that may have arisen by staging the event at the north Kerry links. However, environmental worries about the possible damage to the course by the numbers that would be expected to attend have left the club committee divided on the issue. A final decision is believed to be imminent, possibly by the end of the week.
Given Tom Watson's association with the course - indeed, he is to be the club's Millennium Captain - it would be a tremendous promotional and tourism fillip for the entire area if the tournament was to take place there. And the possibility of Watson playing in the championship for the first time since 1975, the year the event was revived, along with the probability of enticing a number of other top American players, would add to the appeal.
Whether it would be a once-off gesture for the Millennium (should the club agree) or whether it would be the tournament's home for a number of years - as has happened in recent years with Royal Dublin, Portmarnock, Killarney, Mount Juliet and, most recently, Druids Glen, who took it on board for at least two years - remains to be seen. But Dick Spring, the former Labour Party leader and a prime advocator in attempts to bring the event to Ballybunion, believes that it would be a tremendous success: "There have been concerns down the years about possible infrastructural problems but, with proper traffic management and access, they can be overcome."
Indeed, Spring points out that similar concerns were expressed about Mount Juliet and Druids Glen - but both venues have proven to be exceptional ones.
There has been an increase in accommodation available in the Ballybunion area in recent years although it is accepted that Tralee, the largest town in the area, would also play a major part in accommodating the expected number of visitors. Tralee is 20 miles away but a one-way system has been devised as part of the traffic management plan drawn up by the Gardai.
The fact that Padraic Liston, the Managing Director of Murphy Brewery Ireland, is a native of Ballybunion is another factor in the sponsors' desire to bring the event back to Kerry.
A large number of meetings have been held to determine the feasibility of staging the tournament at Ballybunion and, if there are perceived infrastructural problems, nobody is in any doubt about the aura of the links and the likelihood that most of the world's top players would relish the chance to play there, especially as the event would take place just two weeks before the Millennium British Open at St Andrews.
