So why do the pros love Killarney?
Anchored to the couch. Shouting at the television.
“Oh yeah, I was roaring Darren (Clarke) on in a major way,” says Arthur. “I was delighted he won. We were all rooting for him. He’s a fun guy, he can identify with any of us who enjoys a pint and we can identify with him — he’s had the ups and downs of life and it was incredible to see him win.”
Arthur isn’t resting on easy cliché there, but on personal knowledge. Caddymaster at Killarney Golf and Fishing Club, known by all and sundry as The Wedge, he knows all the top golf professionals, and they know him from last year’s Irish Open.
And his family.
“My daughter caddied for Darren the last time he was here and he’s a very likeable guy, he gave her a hug and a kiss when they finished up and she was delighted with him. She had a baby a few weeks ago so she’s not available this time, but I’ll find him a good caddy.”
The popularity of Killarney needn’t be explained to generations of Irish people who’ve holidayed there, but still — what draws hardened golf professionals down there? Arthur’s explanation is convincing: “They love the ambience, the food, the hotels, the scenery — and the attitude of the people.
“You can meet anyone on the streets of Killarney and no-one takes any notice. There’s no fuss. If Jack Nicklaus was there people would say ‘hello’ but that’s it. The JP McManuses and these people can stroll around with no hassle, and the golf pros are the same.”
Arthur goes back 20 years, however, to the first time a pro golfer got the brainwave of combining a tournament with some family time. From the bar in Killarney he points up into the hills across the lake.
“Christy O’Connor Jr came down to play in the Open in 1991 and booked that house over there — below the Aghadoe Heights — and brought his family down to stay with him, and they had a great time. And other players learned from that. Being relaxed can be a huge asset to a golfer, and having your family around can be a help. A player who’s not going well, he could be on his own up in his hotel room playing the round over and over in his own head, whereas with his family around it’s more relaxed.”
It can go the other way, too — Arthur recalls a year the Open was held in Mount Juliet, when he and a few friends ran into one of the top contenders at 1am in a pub in Thomastown the night before the last round.
“He was out late the following day but that wasn’t the ideal preparation, you’d have to say. Not when he was still in contention. You wouldn’t see that in Killarney. The players usually go for food in the town and then head off, it’d be rare to see any of them around town late in the evening. But you’ll see them walking the town during the evening, and they’re quite approachable.”
A lot of hard work goes into getting those players into Killarney, as Mike Buckley can tell you.
The Kerry Coaches boss was in Dingle suffering through Galway v Mayo in the Connacht final when he got a barman to switch channels. Seeing Clarke’s victory grin made Buckley’s day, as he liaises between the town and the golf club for the Irish Open.
“I’m vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce and when I took on the golf, I said to my wife that it’d take up more time than running a bus business. It’ll only happen the once, she said. But now, of course, it’s happened the twice.”
After hosting the Open in 1991 and 1992 the feeling in Killarney was that they’d drifted off the radar for golf tours. When the golf club saw an opportunity to get the tournament back, the town got behind them.
“Everyone rowed in,” says Buckley. “The Irish Hotels Federation provided a stock of rooms worth over €100,000 for players, media and sponsors. The vintners rowed in, and so did the business community: the shops in the town put golf-themed memorabilia in the windows.
“We decongested the town centre by taking traffic out and operating a park-and-ride, and we merged the Summerfest with the Open — rather than just having a golf tournament, we tried to create a festival around the tournament, meshing the tourism product with the golf.
“It all meant we got 82,000 people over the four days. It was the busiest week in Killarney last year.”
The hard work was blessed by one stroke of luck beyond the organisers’ control. On the Thursday last year the sun shone.
“We learned later that Sky broadcast those pictures in 394 million homes worldwide. People saw golf in this magnificent setting, and the bounce from the American golf market last year I’d attribute to that.”
Buckley and co. also looked after the professionals — and their partners.
“They were blown away by some of the activities we arranged for their families, in particular. A lot of them were based in the Europe Hotel, which has one of the best spa facilities you could find anywhere, and we had a spouse’s programme — people dedicated to looking after the players’ wives and girlfriends, and their kids, so for the first time there was a situation where pros could focus on the tournament while his kids could play in the kid zone out on the course and his wife could enjoy herself in the spa or whatever.”
And they were vocal in saying as much. Padraig Harrington had around a dozen people up in the Aghadoe Heights hotel but instead of skedaddling on the Sunday, they stayed on.
Last year people saw the glorious weather on their tv screens on the Thursday and decided to head to Killarney at the last minute. Buckley says the prospect of traffic chaos shouldn’t put them off day-tripping this year.
There won’t be any.
“The traffic plan is based on keeping people moving. Irish Rail are doing a €10 deal and we have coaches meeting people at the station and taking them to the golf, so there’s no need to bring a car, really. People staying in town would only be driving three miles to find parking, and for anyone not familiar with the golf club, you can walk up to it through the National Park from Ross Castle.”
Back in the golf club, James Arthur is practically rubbing his hands at the prospect of Darren Clarke’s arrival. “I’d say you’ll have another 20,000 people here for the Open because of him — not just because of his success, but because he’s so likeable.”
Arthur adds that boy wonder Rory McIlroy has some distance to go to match Clarke’s popularity: “The locals who met him (McIlroy) last year found him a bit brash, but he’ll mellow in his own time. He’s the king at the moment, he has a lot to learn. Compare him to Darren, a man who’s had experience of life, and Rory will have that experience in time. He’ll change his point of view a little because he’ll need to get supporters on his side.”
Arthur points down towards the lake which the golf course overlooks: “The pros staying in hotels in town can get up and have their breakfast and then stroll up to the club at their ease in 15 minutes. You can come out along the lake and that stroll is obviously better for a player than a shuttle bus for 20 minutes.”
Better for a player. Better for everyone.
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