The evidence doesn’t lie. The Amgen Irish Open is in rude health, its revival to being one of the mainstay events on the DP World Tour evident from this latest edition at The K Club which, as part of a five-year agreement, luxury five-star resort is also scheduled to play host again in 2027, the tournament’s centenary year.
Unquestionably, Rory McIlroy – again – was the headline act and delivered wonderfully in claiming his second Irish Open win in such spectacular fashion: that 72nd eagle and then the three-hole sudden-death playoff which saw the Northern Irishman defeat Joakim Lagergren was the sort of drama which scriptwriters dream of.
The return of the Irish Open to the Palmer North course in two years is a signed deal but its timing in the schedule – with the Ryder Cup to be played at Adare Manor in Co. Limerick on September 13th-19th 2027 – will be a matter for another day.
The switch of recent years to a September date for the Irish Open – the week ahead of the BMW PGA Championship and after the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs have finished – has attracted strong fields but not the stellar fields that were anticipated.
READ MORE
Still, any tournament with McIlroy as star billing, and with Shane Lowry, Pádraig Harrington et al also guaranteed, makes for the kind of sold-out weekend that took place and, whatever about its slot in 2027, it seems more than likely that it will again take place the week before Wentworth again next year. No venue has yet been confirmed but the rumour mill has linked Doonbeg in Co Clare with staging the tournament, which remains to be seen.
Lowry, for one, doesn’t see where it can go in the schedule away from September: “I don’t know what the other options are. I think we have a decent field. Obviously, it could be better but I always say, once the Irish golfers are here, it’ll be good anyway.
“What other day do we go for? Do we go back to before the Scottish Open? Then you’re going to get nobody other than the Irish players ... I’m talking top-20, top-50 in the world, because they’re not going to play three weeks leading into the Open.
“The week after the Open, is that an option? I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know. Personally, it suits me quite nicely this week. It’s a nice run like this and Wentworth,” added Lowry.
For now, the organisers and sponsors of the Irish Open can bask in the glory of a fantastic tournament, aided by McIlroy’s brilliant win in front of galleries notable for the number of young children in attendance.
McIlroy, once again, proved to be the maestro who enthralled the spectators through all four days but especially on Sunday as he charged through the back nine for a win that strengthened his position on the DP World Tour’s order of merit, aiming to win a seventh Harry Vardon trophy and close to within one of Colin Montgomerie’s record eight.
“This [win] was a big step towards that Race to Dubai goal that I set myself, and next week is another opportunity to give myself a little bit of cushion going into the last two events of the year,” said McIlroy.
This week’s BMW PGA Championship, the European Tour’s flagship event, at Wentworth provides another shot at redemption for McIlroy, where he lost in a playoff to Billy Horschel. That loss came a week after losing out to Rasmus Hojgaard by a stroke at the Irish Open at Royal County Down. So, one down, one to go?
“I want to have a good week again at Wentworth, a golf course that I lost in a playoff last year, a golf course that I’ve played well on over the years. I just want to continue to keep playing well,” said McIlroy.
McIlroy is one of four Irish players competing in the BMW PGA, which has a €1.3 million winner’s cheque, along with Lowry, Tom McKibbin and Pádraig Harrington.
Eleven members of Luke Donald’s European Ryder Cup team are in action – with Sepp Straka the only one absent, as he is on a form of parental leave following the birth of his child – at Wentworth and will fly over for a reconnaissance trip to Bethpage following the tournament.
Séamus Power, who disappointedly missed the cut at the Irish Open, has returned stateside and is playing in this week’s Procore Championship in Napa, California, where 10 of Keegan Bradley’s US Ryder Cup team – Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay, Harris English, Ben Griffin, Russell Henley, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun, Justin Thomas and Cameron Young – are competing in their final tune-up ahead of Bethpage. Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau, who isn’t eligible to play on the PGA Tour because of his LIV membership, are the only two not playing.
