Racing certainty JP will assemble top class field for Adare Manor pro-am

ONE month he wins the Champion Hurdle with Binocular, the next it’s the Aintree Grand National, and it seems life just couldn’t get any better for JP McManus.

But there is always another challenge for this remarkable Limerick man and now his focus switches to the preparations for his fifth invitational pro-am at Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort (July 5-6). Everything appears to be going according to plan in terms of both the quality of the professional field and the number of amateur teams set to compete.

While McManus is pleased at progress so far, the rest of us continue to wonder how he can put on such a mammoth show every five years.

While it remains unclear as to whether Tiger Woods (below, right) will grace the event for a third time – and the indications are that he will – the confirmed list would have any big tournament promoter drooling at the talent pool while also calculating the tally of the appearance money demands.

For JP, however, the game’s top players don’t ask for or receive a penny.

Among the major champions, apart from Tiger, in the field already are Michael Campbell, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk (adding further attraction to the pro-am with his second win of the year in Hilton Head at the weekend), Pádraig Harrington, Trevor Immelman, Sandy Lyle, Mark O’Meara, Jose-Maria Olazabal and Ian Woosnam.

Eight-time European Tour order of merit winner and current European Ryder Cup team captain Colin Montgomerie will be there along with Lee Westwood, the reigning Race to Dubai champion and Masters runner-up; Ian Poulter, winner of the WGC Accenture World Match Play Championship in February along with the highly exciting Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas and Dustin Johnson.

Ryder Cup stars of the past and present like Thomas Bjorn, Paul Casey, Darren Clarke, Luke Donald, Soren Hansen, Miguel-Angel Jimenez, Robert Karlsson, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson have entered as have world stars like Australians Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby, Americans Fred Funk and Jerry Kelly and in addition to the Irish already mentioned, present to add their mix to the potion will be Rory McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Damien McGrane and Peter Lawrie.

And that by no means is the end of this amazing array of stars, with the organising committee adding to the list almost on a weekly basis.

Celebrities of stage and screen (including Hugh Grant, Samuel Jackson, Kyle McLachlan and Aidan Quinn) will attend while sporting heroes – and especially those from the world of racing – will also be bidding for team glory.

With a million euro in prize money on offer for the pros, there is a serious side to the occasion. Essentially, however, it is all about accumulating as much money as possible for charity and generating a massive amount of fun and enjoyment for the participants and spectators alike in the process.

Over €55 million has been raised from the pro-am since 1990 with all the monies going to the beneficiaries. Much of what JP McManus has achieved over the years borders on the incredible but for me nothing can surpass this degree of benevolence that has had life changing results for many people in the greater mid-west area.

The first JP McManus Invitational Pro-Am teed off at Limerick Golf Club in 1990 and helped to raise almost €1.2 million for charities. In 1995, the event attracted many more top professional golfers and raised almost €4 million. They were back at Limerick five years later when 15,000 people turned up to watch Tiger Woods compete for the first time. He didn’t disappoint, winning the event which raised another €19.8m.

The 2005 renewal moved to a new home at Adare Manor. The line-up was outstanding with the likes of Woods, Michael Campbell, Ernie Els and Colin Montgomerie among a host of household golfing names making the trip. Over 8,600 people played in pre-qualifying tournaments organised by local charities throughout the country. As a result, 12 charity teams qualified to play in the pro-am. How fitting it was that Pádraig Harrington came out on top with a magnificent 15 under par total. Charleville Community Care captured the team award and when the mathematics were completed, an amazing €31m was available for distribution among 56 charities in the region. Further details of this year’s event will be announced this week. Suffice to say for now, though, that the sale of entrance caps at €50 each covering the two days is proceeding well and in spite of these straitened times, the certainty is that many more millions will be raised for deserving charities.