3 put Killarney call on hold

THE chief executive of Irish Open sponsors 3 is remaining tight lipped over the venue – and timing – for next year’s event.

Robert Finnegan admitted last week’s championship, which attracted 81,738 to Killarney, was a tremendous success. However, he has yet to decide if the showpiece of Irish golf will return to the Kingdom in 2011.

He said: “I think we made the right call in coming to Killarney. We will come to a decision about next year in a couple of months.”

While Killarney proved an unqualified success, he may wish to move the tournament around the country to broaden the appeal of his company, which has gained a huge profile through its association with the event.

Finnegan and European Tour chiefs may also again look at a change of date. The August Bank Holiday was perfect in every way except one – too many of the leading players took the week off in preparation for the WGC-Bridgestone Championship in Akron, and the US PGA at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin.

Irish Open champion Ross Fisher admitted that “it was very lucky for me that the event fitted nicely into my schedule”, while Darren Clarke lamented the absence of many top players but admitted that “scheduling is always a difficult thing and guys have got their own schedules worked out.”

There is also the question of Killarney’s willingness to stage the tournament for a second year, should they be invited to do so. The consensus among the membership seems to be in favour of doing so. Captain Kieran O’Connor and general manager Maurice O’Meara expressed pride at the success of the event, and this magnificent complex is back in the limelight, having perhaps been overshadowed in recent times by their famous seaside neighbours.

The number of inquiries arriving on O’Meara’s desk from around the globe is testament to that, and it can be assumed that the green fee intake later this year and in 2011 will reflect that.

However, there is a downside for any club hosting a modern European Tour event. Taking Killarney as a yardstick, the members lost the use of the Killeen Course for two weeks, the Mahonys Point lay-out housed the tented village and its fabled par three 18th hole was used as a practice facility.

Course superintendent David MacIndoe and his staff, who all came out of the exercise with their reputations enhanced, naturally devoted their attentions in the build-up to the Open on the Killeen course to the detriment of Lackabane (which in the circumstances looked in magnificent condition anyway) and Mahonys Point.

By and large, the members were perfectly happy to put up with the inconvenience and were prepared to voluntarily devote many weeks if not months to having everything shipshape for the big week. Some, however, expressed doubts about their willingness to go through it all once more in 12 months’ time.

On the other hand, several factors weigh very, very heavily in favour of a return to the lakes and fells.

Finnegan just has to be overjoyed by the turnout, a figure that Ben Watson, the Tour’s championship director, wistfully hoped for on the previous Sunday. It all meant a great return for 3, the exhibitors and retailers in the tented village, the townspeople, the hoteliers, guest house owners and publicans and the Tour itself. And then there’s the players who, without exception, loved their time in Killarney and expressed an ardent wish to return.

There mood was best summed up by Paul McGinley who said: “The Irish Open is very much viewed as great craic, the Guinness, the atmosphere in town, everyone in good humour, the Irish sense of humour … they’re the lines along which it has been sold to the players and obviously great venues as well.

“Even though we’ve had great venues the last few years, you’ve never had an epicentre, a town close by that’s been buzzing because the Irish Open was on. I think Killarney has brought that. I’m not suggesting it should stay here forever but I’d like to see it come back next year.

“We had great crowds, great atmosphere, the hotels are sensational, the views are magnificent and the weather was decent. It ticked a lot of boxes and the Irish Open has reestablished itself as one of the premier events on Tour.”