Leahy: Fota ready for return of European Tour
Fota, which staged the 2001 and 2002 Irish Opens respectively, and the 2006 Irish Seniors Open, is set to host a professional event for the first time since a new nine holes, designed by Jeff Howes, were added to the original 18 of the Deerpark course.
Now with three different 18-hole layouts, the par-73, 7,632-yard Belvelly Course, comprising the original back nine and the newer nine, will stage the Audi Cork Irish Masters event on the PGA EuroPro Tour from July 6-8.
And Leahy is hoping next month’s event will pave the way for a return of the Irish Open, which this year will again be hosted by Killarney Golf and Fishing Club from July 28-31.
“What we would love to do is to see more championship golf here,” Leahy told the Irish Examiner.
“We would be very hopeful that in the future that we would host events like an Irish Open here again. That’s what this resort is about, that’s what it’s set up for and long-term it would definitely be an ambition of the resort. Which course they would play is open for debate but we believe all 27 holes stand up, whichever configuration.
“So I would be hopeful, I can’t give a timeline but you would always be hopeful. We know the pros like it, we know the Tour likes it and the crowds seem to enjoy it here.
“The European Tour love it and whatever sponsor gets attached to the Irish Open would be very lucky from that perspective.”
Leahy believes the Audi Cork Irish Masters will serve as an ideal dry run for the Belvelly layout, where the new nine is maturing well.
He said: “This is the first time this course is being used as a championship course. We now feel the course is ready to be exposed and stand up. We’ve been talking for some time and we felt the new course needed to start having some championship events.
“We put the Senior Cup on there last year to give it a road test and now we’re ready to go to the next level and hopefully we’ll take it even further. The Deerpark, which is the original course, had the Irish Open in 2001 and 2002 and record crowds at the time.
“The pros were very positive about it because one thing Fota does deliver is a very playable golf course. That probably stands to us and we’ll be hoping this new tranche of pros will enjoy it and it will get a proper road test. The other big advantage that the EuroPro Tour saw was the academy facility because it’s an ideal preparation staging point and gives the players a really good starting point for tournament golf.”
