World stars hold court at ‘spectacular’ Killeen Castle venue

ADMISSION is free, the quality of the field could hardly be better, the location is both new and spectacular.

Nevertheless, Roddy Carr, tournament director for the AIB Irish Ladies Open getting underway at Killeen Castle, near Dunsany, Co Meath this morning is keeping his fingers crossed that the event will be the success it undoubtedly deserves to be.

“We have done everything to make the tournament as attractive as possible for both the players and the spectators,” said Carr, a son of the legendary Joe and an outstanding player in his own right. “We have gone back to the old days of the Carrolls Irish Open in putting up a world-class field and keeping expense to the public to a minimum.

“This is the first tournament to be staged at Killeen Castle and it is important to us that it should go well with next year’s Solheim Cup in mind. Everybody, including our American visitors, have been gob-smacked by the whole place. It is a venue of which we can be very proud. There are 50,000 tickets out there and we have been pushing hard in the hope that the people will turn up in numbers. It’s a nervous time for all involved.”

Killeen Castle, the second Jack Nicklaus signature golf course in the country after Mount Juliet, is located in a 500-acre estate near Dunshaughlin, and is facing its first serious test in the build-up to the Solheim Cup (the female version of the Ryder Cup) in September 2011.

The magnificent 12th century castle acts as a spectacular backdrop to the 18th green, and the course looked an absolute picture during yesterday’s pro-am. Delayed television pictures of the tournament are set to be shown on RTÉ, Sky Sports, Eurosport and the US Golf Channel.

That the Solheim Cup is on its way to Killeen Castle has encouraged as many as 17 of the 24 who competed in the match in 2009 to come and gain early knowledge of the course’s intricacies. The Americans’ challenge this week is headed by the quintet of Brittany Lincicome, Christina Kim, Angela Stanford, Kristy McPherson and Brittany Lang, all members of the successful side at Rich Harvest Farms, Sugar Grove, Illinois, last year.

Diana Lunn, the defending champion after her victory at Portmarnock Links last year, gave birth to her first child three months ago, but is back to defend along with all the ‘09 European Solheim team, including the charismatic Laura Davies, the current leader of the European Tour money list, and three time champion Sophie Gustafson.

Interestingly, though, the bookmakers have installed the 2008 winner and current world number four Suzann Peterssen from Norway as favourite at the pretty prohibitive odds of 5/1. Second in the list comes In Kyung Kim from South Korea, the world’s 10th ranked player and who came third in last week’s Ricoh British Open at Royal Birkdale. Amy Yang is third favourite at 12/1.

A visit to the bookies could well prove beneficial given that Katherine Hull, the Australian who ran up for the British Open, is on offer at 20/1 along with Christina Kim, a lady who has made her mark in past Solheim Cups.

With one or two exceptions, the Irish have struggled in the ladies professional game. Galway-born Alison Walshe lived in Ireland for the first 11 years before the family emigrated to Boston led to her appearance for the US in the Curtis Cup in 2008 and is rated our best chance at 50/1. Indeed, amateurs Danielle McVeigh and the brilliant Maguire twins, Leona and Lisa, are rated ahead of all the other professionals, Rebecca Coakley, Hazel Kavanagh, Tara Delaney, Claire Coughlan-Ryan and Martina Gillen.

The total prize fund is €500,000 with €75,000 to the winner.