Minister supports Irish Open

SPORTS Minister John O’Donoghue last night threw the Government’s weight behind attempts to keep golf’s Irish Open afloat next year.

The Minister inked a Bord Failte deal with Padraig Harrington yesterday and admitted that it would be incongruous to promote tourism through golf in this country and not have an Irish Open next year.

The minister was speaking after Harrington signed a deal with Bord Failte to promote Irish tourism up to 2006, the year the Ryder Cup comes to Ireland and The K-Club.

The parlous future of the Irish Open came up for discussion given that the tourist board has been the chief subsidiary sponsor of the championship for a number of years with its current outlay said to be around 350,000.

With Murphys ending their sponsorship this season after nine years, organisers must find a new financial backer.

Murrays Consultants, the event manager for more than a decade, have an offer on the table, but it is not considered sufficient by the European PGA Tour, to whom the title has reverted from Murphys.

Gordon Simpson, communications director of the European Tour, insists that there will be no comment from their end until executive director Ken Schofield announces the completion of their schedule for 2003 during the Volvo Masters at Valderrama on November 7-10.

Whether anything can be confirmed from this side of the Irish Sea between now and then remains in considerable doubt. It will require a prize fund of at least 2m to give the event serious credibility and even that is an increase of 400,000 on what was on offer in 2002.

Furthermore, the traditional Irish Open date has been passed on to a new and lucrative French Open with the likely new Irish week being that immediately after the Open Championship, currently held by the Dutch Open.

Bord Failte have come under pressure to increase its contribution and indeed European Tour officials have been privately expressing the hope that they might become the main sponsor. Up to now, that was a most unlikely eventuality. Minister O’Donoghue’s well chosen words yesterday could well cause a shift of direction. He wants the Open to continue, as does the acting chief executive of Bord Failte, Niall Reddy.

“We are very optimistic that there will be an Irish Open in 2003”, said Mr Reddy. “We will be in further contact with the minister’s office and beyond that there isn’t a whole lot more I can say at this stage. There’s many a slip between cup and lip”.

He didn’t rule out the possibility of Bord Failte becoming the primary sponsor. “Not necessarily”, he commented. “We have always believed in a public/private partnership for the championship and a combination of both remains the ideal from our point of view.”

“There’s always been an Irish Open in my time and, accordingly, I can’t imagine a situation when there wouldn’t be a national Open”, said Padraig Harrington. “If there was a vote among the European Tour players, I am satisfied they would give the Irish Open their No 1 vote because of the great courses we have and the wonderful atmosphere the event generates, the friendliness of the galleries and their undisputed knowledge of the game. They love coming here”.