Where have all the crowds gone?

TIME was when the Irish Open was dominated by the superstars of the game ... Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo, Jose-Maria Olazabal, all major championship winners, Colin Montgomerie and Sergio Garcia, two of the game’s finest ever players.

That day, for some reason, is long past.

David Carter in 1998 set the trend for low key champions and since then we have had Patrik Sjoland, Soren Hansen, Brett Rumford and now Stephen Dodd. Fine golfers all, no doubt, but not the kind of guys that the public will flock to watch.