Part II of this series looks at how clubs around the island of Ireland are planning for the year ahead and what Irish golf can expect in 2020.

There was another night to remember at the end of a remarkable year as the Irish Golf Writers’ Association crowned Open champion Shane Lowry its Professional Player of the Year at its annual Allianz-sponsored awards.

Graeme McDowell will host the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open for the next two years, starting with the 2020 event at Mount Juliet.

Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo, and Bernhard Langer are among previous winners at the Kilkenny course.

In addition to the €495,187 spent by Fáilte Ireland, Clare County Council oversaw a spend of €4m on upgrading the resort, which included an outlay of €550,000 on new public toilets.

Rory McIlroy shot a one-under-par round of 69 on the opening day of the WGC Fed Ex St Jude Invitational in Memphis.

Padraig Harrington will look to take inspiration from Shane Lowry’s Open triumph in the Barracuda Championship, where high points totals rather than low scores will be the order of the day.

It was business as usual down on Portrush’s beautiful East Strand as the lifeguard looked out from her perch to the handful of dog walkers and paddlers on the beach.

What is it about high-performance athletes and teams that they always appear to have another gear to go to when the competition heats up?

Paul McGinley is confident the scheduling issues around next year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open can be resolved by European and PGA Tour bosses in the coming weeks but admitted it will be a difficult and challenging task and the outcome may be less than perfect.

A world-class champion on a world-class course.

Robin Dawson picked up the biggest prize in his professional career to date and with it the motivation to make his appearances on the European Tour a lot more regular.

Shane Lowry is on a different wavelength to Pádraig Harrington regarding the date for next year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

John Gleeson, chairman of the Irish Open committee at Lahinch, believes that the host club “really delivered something very special”.

Saturday evening would have been a restless night sleep-wise, for both Robin Dawson and Cormac Sharvin.

Cormac Sharvin will carry home hopes into the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open final round tomorrow, but it was Robert Rock’s stunning third round of 60 that wowed the sell-out crowds at Lahinch.

2009 runner-up Robert Rock has moved to the summit of the leaderboard on day three of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

Having just made the cut yesterday, Waterford's Robin Dawson has shot up the leaderboard on day three of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

Get set for a wild ride at Lahinch this weekend as the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open heads into today’s third round with the title race wide open and a host of contenders still in the frame.

It seems as if Pádraig Harrington may have offended the golfing gods. Not so much for the magnificent 63 he shot here in Lahinch on the opening day of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, so much as the unrestrained satisfaction he took from it all.

Cormac Sharvin knows it is only human to think about it but the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open’s leading Irishman is determined to not let thoughts of a place in this month’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush interfere with the business at hand.

Eddie Pepperell may have earned himself a late tee time in today’s third round at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open after he followed his opening 65 with a 67 yesterday, but the Englishman is not banking on a good night’s sleep in Lahinch.

Dubai Duty Free chief executive Colm McLoughlin has underlined his company’s commitment as title sponsor to both the Irish Open and Derby by expressing his wish to see the prize money for both events increase during its involvement.

Hopes of a home victory took a battering at the second day of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open with overnight leader Padraig Harrington slumping to a three-over 73 and Shane Lowry struggling with a stomach bug as well as his scorecard.

Well-placed after an opening four-under round of 66, Lowry had been contending with a bad cough that was disturbing his sleep through the week but his health issues took a turn for the worse early on Friday.

Dubai Duty Free chief executive Colm McLoughlin has underlined his company’s commitment as title sponsor to both the Irish Open and Derby by expressing his wish to see the prize money for both sporting events increase in the coming years.

Overnight leader Padraig Harrington has dropped three shots on day two of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in Lahinch.

A crowd of 16,228 took in the opening day of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in Lahinch, although a handful of them were escorted off the premises.

This may not be Pádraig Harrington’s last shot at glory but the triple major champion knows age is catching up with him and his blistering 63 at Lahinch yesterday was a sign he is not inclined to waste a minute of the time he has left in elite golf.

Seamus Power would have had plenty of understanding from the Irish golfing community if he had decided to skip his national open to stay in the United States and continue the fight for his PGA Tour card.

Maybe it was the bright sunshine at Lahinch yesterday morning that brought on the folly but at one point of the afternoon we began tallying the different adjectives used to describe this course’s most famous holes.

Padraig Harrington shot a superb opening day seven-under 63 to shoot to the summit of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open leaderboard on Thursday evening and if it looked easy then it was.

With the pressure of securing a starting spot in his hometown Open Championship later this month now lifted, Graeme McDowell is relishing the opportunity to free his mind and concentrate on the task at hand: a good week in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

It will not be in the nature of the tournament host to have slept easily last night on the eve of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open but his efforts to make this €6.2m European Tour event a success have already earned Paul McGinley the right to relax just a little.

Graeme McDowell will be trying to avoid thinking about The Open Championship in his hometown of Portrush in two weeks as he bids to start his links golf season on a high at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open on Thursday.

The three-time major champion could be forgiven for protesting that he already has plenty on his plate, what with his captaincy of the European Ryder Cup team which will play at Whistling Straits next September.

Rugby players in an Irish Open Pro-Am are not an unusual sight. Along with GAA stars and jockeys, they are a staple of the pre-tournament entertainment at this annual stop on the European Tour.

As the defending champion this week, Russell Knox already has his place in the Irish Open hall of fame but the way the Scot sealed victory at Ballyliffin last year means a line in the record books will never do it justice.

Shane Lowry will embrace the mantle of leading home hope at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open despite his determination to dismiss all talk of a potential victory.

With only a limited number of tickets remaining for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open this weekend, tournament host Paul McGinley has all the validation he needs that bringing the European Tour to Lahinch was the right call, regardless of which stars tee it up on the prestigious links tomorrow.

As the chairman of the Lahinch Golf Club Tournament Committee, John Gleeson has already visualised the packed grandstand behind his club’s 18th green as the champion-elect strides along the par-five final hole with a throng of spectators in his wake and hundreds more teeming up the Liscannor Road on the other side of the wall.

The staging of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Lahinch is having “a transformative effect” on the seaside resort of Lahinch.

Shane Lowry will get his Dubai Duty Free Irish Open campaign underway early on Thursday as part of an illustrious group also featuring Ryder Cup hero Tommy Fleetwood and defending champion Russell Knox.

Tournament host Paul McGinley has insisted this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open can flourish in spite of the absence of leading Irishman Rory McIlroy.