US Open aces head Irish challenge at Portrush

Graeme McDowell and Pádraig Harrington, 2nd and 4th in the US Open, spearhead the home challenge in next week’s Irish Open at Royal Portrush.

The pair are among 23 Irish players in a field that has attracted 10 major championship winners in a near sold-out event at the great Northern Ireland links.

Rory McIlroy, who retains his world number two ranking despite missing the cut in San Francisco, plans to play some links golf this week in preparation for the event while Darren Clarke is battling back to fitness after a groin injury forced him to miss the US Open.

The four Irish Major winners are joined by USPGA champion Keegan Bradley, John Daly, Rich Beem, Jose-Maria Olazabal, Paul Lawrie and Michael Campbell, all of whom have claimed golf’s greatest prizes.

Ross Fisher and Simon Dyson, the winners at Killarney in 2010 and 2011, return to Ireland and among this year’s champions in the field are Branden Grace, Francesco Molinari, Nicolas Colsaerts and the Spaniards Alvaro Quiros, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Raphael Cabrera Bello.

All the other regular Irish tour players, Michael Hoey, Shane Lowry, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Gareth Maybin and Paul McGinley, are playing.

And there’s a welcome invitation for Waterville’s Mark Murphy, now based in the United States but who played in this year’s Trophy Hassan in Morocco where he was nicely placed after three rounds of 72, 68 and 71 before a 76 on the final day pushed him back into a share of 52nd.

David Higgins, who had a top 10 finish in the BMW PGA Championship heads the list of qualifiers from the Irish Region PGA order of merit, a group that includes Barrie Trainor, Damien Mooney, Michael Collins, Mark Staunton, John Kelly, Mark O’Sullivan and Simon Thornton.

The Golfing Union of Ireland have nominated four amateurs for the championship, Patrick McCrudden, Harry Diamond, Dermot McElroy and Alan Dunbar, all from Ulster.