Killarney eyeing August Irish Open

GOLF’s Irish Open could be poised for a return to Killarney Golf Club, it is understood. Negotiations between mobile phone company and Open sponsors 3, the European Tour and four potential venues for next year’s Open are underway with a new date around the August bank holiday weekend on the table.

Phone giants 3 rescued the championship this year and were rewarded for their initiative when Irish amateur Shane Lowry captured the title in sensational circumstances after a play-off against Robert Rock.

3 had hoped to move the event from mid-May to later in the season in the hope of attracting a higher-class field and hopefully an improvement on the foul weather that has bedevilled the event in recent years. 3 would have preferred to play it on a links a week or two before the British Open but those dates were – and remain – in the safe keeping of Barclays and Alstom, the sponsors for several years of the Scottish and French Opens.

Accordingly, the European Tour were unable to facilitate 3 on either of those two weeks and it now seems that agreement has been reached to stage the event on the August Bank Holiday in 2010. In theory anyway, that date should make for more favourable weather conditions and should also suit the marquee names given that it slots into the schedule two weeks after the Open Championship and immediately before the WGC Bridgestone Invitational and the US PGA Championship.

Furthermore, in 2010 it would be the fifth last tournament before the finalisation of Colin Montgomerie’s European Ryder Cup team. Those players with their sights set on taking on the Americans at Celtic Manor in the first week of October could hardly afford to miss out on a tournament offering €3m in prize money and the same number of Ryder Cup points.

It is believed that Baltray, which proved a hugely successful venue this year and also in 2004, has again been invited to make a presentation to the sponsors. And Fota Island, which housed the championship in 2001 and ‘02, Mount Juliet, the host venue in 1993, ‘94 and ‘95 and Killarney, have been asked to do likewise.

Killarney broke the mould of staging the championship at Portmarnock or Royal Dublin from 1976 to 1989 when undertaking the task in 1990. Nick Faldo captured the title that year over the Killeen Course with a total of 283 and retained it there the following year.

Killeen has been dramatically upgraded in the meantime and would certainly prove a worthy test for Europe’s best. There’s some haggling yet before a final decision is made but it’s understood Killarney is very keen on the idea and have made a very strong presentation with the wholehearted support of the region’s many hotels and other business enterprises.