McManus invitational brings out caring side of world’s best
The field includes the world number one and one of the game's most charismatic players in Tiger Woods; two more of the world's top ten in Pádraig Harrington (6) and Adam Scott (10); six from the top 20; eight from the top 30; twelve from the top 40 and 16 from the top 50 and all for free!
"The golfers wouldn't even dream of asking for a cent to play in this event," said Mark O'Meara, a two times major champion and close friend of J.P. McManus.
O'Meara has just combined a week's fishing on various rivers around Ireland with launching the pro-am: "People offer Tiger Woods a million dollars and more and he turns them down. He can't play in everything. It is not about the money but rather doing something right. It's about helping a friend, in this case J.P. McManus. We are delighted to take part knowing J.P. and what he stands for. When we put our heads on the pillow at the end of the day we know that, hopefully, we have made someone's life a little better."
Nobody knows what American-based players like Woods, Adam Scott, Stuart Appleby, Luke Donald and Fred Couples would demand to cross the Atlantic to compete in, say, the Irish, Scottish or French Opens. A reasonable supposition is that it would come to something in the region of €5m. Informed opinion suggests that Woods wouldn't consider anything less than $2 million.
European Tour members like Harrington, Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood, Thomas Bjorn, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter, to mention but five, also have hefty prices on their heads.
Furthermore, let's not overlook golfers of considerable drawing power like Jose-Maria Olazabal, Mark O'Meara and Lee Janzen, all dual 'major' winners; former Masters champions Ian Woosnam and Sandy Lyle; Colin Montgomerie, Americans Jerry Kelly, currently 38th in the world, and Scott McCarron; our own Paul McGinley and Graeme McDowell; Jesper Parnevik and Justin Rose.
The reality is that it takes a person with very special magnetism to attract such a field without shelling out a penny to any of them apart from travelling and accommodation costs and a prize fund of 1m much of which is sure to be returned to the charitable fund.
That man, is J.P. McManus, whose three pro-ams to date have raised a total of €25.3 1.5 (1990); €4 million (1995) and €19.8 (2000). The target for this year, quite sensibly, has not been made public but I understand it is in the region of €25m.
The many charities in the mid-west that benefit from the windfall have good reason to be grateful to McManus, but J.P. is adamant none of this could happen without the goodwill of the golf professionals and the dedicated team that run the event.
The tournaments in 1990 and '95, won by Neil Hanson and Paul Broadhurst, were enormous affairs at the time before a casual conversation between McManus and his close friend Mark O'Meara led to the blockbuster that we know today.
McManus and O'Meara told Tiger Woods about the pro-am: he asked when it was being held, and on hearing that it was the week before the British Open Championship, he immediately agreed to play.
Not alone that but he encouraged several other stars, including David Duval, to join him at Limerick Golf Club. As always, Tiger tried hard, set a course record, won the event and handed the cheque back to J.P.
Later, friends of McManus and those of a distinctly charitable nature, spent fortunes at the pro-am dinner leading to a total "haul" of almost €20m.
In all 41 charities benefited, with €4.9 million going to the mid-western hospitals development trust for the provision of vital equipment at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital and in excess of 1million to the Charleville Association for the Mentally Handicapped; Limerick Youth Service, St Vincent's Lisnagry; Milford Hospice and the Brothers of Charity.
At the launch, O'Meara was clearly speaking from the heart when he spoke about "a truly unique tournament for which the professionals give up their time and gladly support the pro-am with enthusiasm and genuine interest."
Mark O'Meara is right. The J.P. McManus pro-am is unique. There is nothing like it anywhere in the world. And we are extremely fortunate to have such a treat on our doorstep every five years.
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