O’Meara confident Open will return to Killarney

MAURICE O’MEARA, named manager of the year at the Irish Golf Tour Operators Association (IGTOA) annual awards, is confident the ‘3’ Irish Open will return to Killarney next year.

The other award winners were Ballybunion Old (golf course of the year), Lough Erne, Fermanagh (golf resort of the year), Trident Kinsale (golf hotel of the year), Dylan (golf boutique hotel of the year) and Darren Clarke (Jerry Donworth award for services to golf).

The awards were presented at the gala dinner in Newcastle, Co Down by a number of Northern Ireland sporting icons including Dr Jack Kyle, Dame Mary Peters, Pat Jennings, Martin O’Neill and Mike Gibson.

O’Meara, a 33 year-old Dubliner who worked in the hotel and facilities management areas before taking up the Killarney Golf and Fishing Club role three years ago, praised the team work involved in making the ‘3’ Irish Open one of the most successful on the European Tour in 2010

“People doubted we could do it but we delivered a great tournament. I am delighted with the award if only because I’ve only been in the business for a short time. Killarney Golf and Fishing club was here before me and will be here a long time after me. And we look to the future with great confidence. We will keep our heads down and look after our visitors and our 1,800 members as best we can.

“The Irish Open was a real team effort and I think everybody acknowledged that it was a great week in every respect. Discussions about next year are still ongoing and we are keen to host the event again. If anything, it should be even easier the second time round. It had been 20 years since we had the Irish Open so to some extent it was all new to us. Now we have the experience and while a few little things may need to be tweaked, everything is already in place.”

O’Meara, a 10 handicapper who played his early golf over the outstanding Island links, said he has received incredible support from the members of Killarney since his arrival as replacement for the long term incumbent, Tom Prendergast, in 2007. He is married to Claire, a Kerry girl, and they have two children, James and Grace, and he is very positive about the future for the club, even in these straitened times.

“Our profile was raised considerably by the Irish Open and we had a very busy August and September. “We had lot of new bookings made over a four or five day interval. These were mainly from the domestic and UK markets. About 40% of our green fee business is domestic, about 15% UK, 5% US and we also have a lot of visitors from the Nordic countries and Switzerland. These people loved what they saw on television during the Irish Open.”