Seve’s Heritage course to host 2005 Irish Seniors Open

NEXT year’s AIB Irish Seniors Open will be played at the Seve Ballesteros co-designed Heritage Golf & Country Club at Killenard in Co Laois.

The 7,345 yard championship course, designed with Jeff Howes

Design, is Ballesteros’s first venture in golf design in Ireland. “It is wonderful that my first course design in Ireland and the UK has been chosen to host a major international tournament.

“Being a householder here I have no doubt that the quality field and spectators that the event attracts will enjoy not only the golf course but the total experience of The Heritage,” the Ryder Cup-winning captain said.

This year, the competition will be played from June 4-6, returning to Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Resort for a third successive year. Last year Noel Ratcliffe took the title, a five under par total of 211 seeing the Australian home by a shot from a chasing pack which featured Jamaica’s Delroy Cambridge, Scotland’s Martin Gray and American Bob Lendzion.

Ratcliffe’s victory denied Seiji Ebihara a third successive title, the Japanese golfer winning at Adare in 2002 as well as Powerscourt Golf Club in 2001.