Battle to save Irish Open goes on

SUNDAY’S confirmation by the European Tour that the July 28-31 date has been reserved for the 2011 Irish Open and chief executive George O’Grady’s comment that Killarney is the preferred venue had been well flagged but there is still no guarantee the tournament will take place in 2011.

As Pádraig Harrington, working hard to attract a replacement for “3” who surprisingly pulled out a year ahead of expectations, accepted at the weekend: “It’s by no means a certainty. The Tour badly need a sponsor.”

The reality is that in recent years, the Tour has listed other prestigious tournaments, most notably the European Open, the British Masters and the English Open, on their schedule only to drop them when a commercial sponsor could not be found.