Could we see Irish victory at Carton House?

This country has produced many of the game’s finest but for reasons not always easy to fathom, their record at the Irish Open is a long way short of what might have been expected.

Such a contention may sound difficult to understand for those who happily recall Pádraig Harrington’s victory at Adare Manor in 2007 and Shane Lowry’s triumph while still an amateur at Baltray in 2009. Two titles in three years most definitely made it a golden period for our players but before that we had to go back 25 years to John O’Leary at Portmarnock in 1982 for a previous success.

The Irish Open Championship was founded by the GUI in 1927 and from the time George Duncan defied appalling conditions at Portmarnock that year until World War Two called a halt, it was dominated by a succession of Englishmen. The effects of the hostilities may have had a negative effect on the cross-channel contingent and helped Fred Daly in 1946 and Harry Bradshaw a year later and again in 1949 to keep the title at home but that was the extent of Irish successes before the GUI could no longer funds the championship in 1953.