Irish aces bid to maintain feel-good factor

THE scene is set, the major trophies have been polished and golf in this country is set for a week to remember as the Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland 2011 gets under way today at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club.

Much has been made of the unique position Irish golf finds itself in, this island of 6.5 million people providing four major champions and three of the last six, but it would be something special again if one of them were to win on home soil this week.

And so Pádraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke, the most recent addition to the Irish major-winning list, have one more duty to perform — to send home the expected crowds of up to 100,000 golf fans with a home victory in their nostrils.

The economy may still be in the gutter but Ireland’s golfers are in the penthouse right now and are primed to reclaim the title won last year in fine style by Ross Fisher. Twelve months ago, Ireland had to struggle by with just the two major champions but with McIlroy and Clarke joining the party, even 2010 US Open champion McDowell is struggling to come to terms with the buzz being generated by this year’s event, even if it is lacking a title sponsor.

“It’s going to be very, very exciting to have 100,000 people coming to the Irish Open and it says something about the state of Irish golf,” McDowell said yesterday.

“Amazing to watch Rory obviously win the US Open, and then ... watch Darren win the Claret Jug, just an amazing performance from him.

“You end up pinching yourself. It is pretty tough to get your head around the fact that three Irishmen have won Majors in the last 13 months. People are excited about it now, no doubt about it, and that’s why they are going to come this week. It’s going to be very exciting.

“And hopefully it will give the tournament the boost that it needs to attract a prospective sponsor to put this tournament back on the map where it belongs as one of the premiere events on The European Tour.

“I think the strength of Irish golf will help that happen this week, and like I say, the crowds are going to come and hopefully the sun shines, because this place is pretty spectacular in the sunshine and it would be just an amazing place to hopefully get the rebirth of this tournament.”

McIlroy leads the betting as a clear 5/1 favourite with McDowell a distant second favourite at around 16/1 but the winner already appears to be the tournament, which after some rocky years had looked to be back on track with a benevolent title sponsor in 3 Mobile, who even managed to luck out with a homegrown winner in their first year when then-amateur Shane Lowry triumphed at Baltray.

Yet 3 have now gone from the scene, the European Tour are believed to be very close to securing a replacement for 2012 and this year’s renewal, taking place due to the support of the Tour and Fáilte Ireland, can serve as the perfect showcase, says British Open champion Clarke.

“I think what the tour have done and the Irish to put on the Irish Open with no sponsor, to have this premiere tournament on The European Tour, to keep it going is fantastic,” Clarke said.

“And the support of all the Irish guys, Pádraig and G-Mac and Rory and Paul [McGinley] and all of the Irish guys coming to play in support, hopefully this week we’ll all give the crowd something to roar about. It should be fantastic. We had massive crowds here last year. The pictures going around the world from the Irish Open just showcasing Ireland were brilliant and let’s hope we have more of the same this year.”