Golf

Tom McKibbin puts his name to new-look NI Open at Galgorm Golf Club

Tournament will take place at the Co Antrim course at the end of July with a purse of €290k

Tom McKibbin in action during the ISPS Handa World Invitational at Galgorm Castle in 2022. The Northern Ireland DP World Tour pro will act as the presenting player for the new-look NI Open at the Co Antrim course in July. Photograph: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Tom McKibbin in action during the ISPS Handa World Invitational at Galgorm Castle in 2022. The Northern Ireland DP World Tour pro will act as the presenting player for the new-look NI Open at the Co Antrim course in July. Photograph: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Philip Reid
Tue May 07 2024 - 17:25

The new-look NI Open is, in its own way, going back to its roots with the tournament returning to the Challenge Tour schedule when it takes place at Galgorm Golf Club in Ballymena, Co Antrim, from July 23rd-28th.

The revamped tournament – with a purse of €290,000 (£250,000) – has obtained a strong spot in the Challenge Tour schedule, in a free week on the DP World Tour, and will be held ahead of the Irish Challenge at The K Club.

Tom McKibbin, who secured a breakthrough win on the DP World Tour last year when claiming the Porsche European Tour, will act as the presenting player for the tournament and has confirmed he will play in the pre-tournament pro-am.

“I am honoured to be part of the revamped NI Open which promises to be another outstanding event,” said McKibbin, the 21-year-old Belfastman who is touring professional attached to Galgorm. “I played in many Challenge Tour events when starting out in my career and they are hugely competitive with great players from all over the world. I know there will be a strong Irish contingent competing at Galgorm too, which will give the home fans plenty to cheer about. It promises to be a great week.”

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The NI Open – which will have free ticket entry – established itself as one of the most popular tournaments initially on the EuroPro Tour (2010-2012) and then on the Challenge Tour (2013-2020) and on the Clutch Pro Tour (2021-2023).

Galgorm played host to the innovative ISPS Handa World Invitational in recent years, which featured both men’s and women’s strokeplay tournaments.

This revamp – which will be promoted by the Clutch Pro Tour – sees the event’s return to the Challenge Tour. George Diamondis, Tourism NI golf marketing manager, said: “The NI Open presented by Tom McKibbin is an annual homegrown golf tournament, hosted at Galgorm and this year sees the well-deserved return to the Challenge Tour. This tournament will be the first in a series of exciting golf tournaments which will showcase our world class golfing product on an international stage.”

Philip Reid

Philip Reid

Philip Reid is Golf Correspondent of The Irish Times