Irish Open on course for title sponsor

The Irish Open could have a title sponsor again next season after three years in the financial doldrums.

Sources close to the European Tour confirmed that they are in negotiations with a backer that could boost the prize fund beyond €2m.

According to the same source, a deal to take the event back to Fota Island in Cork is “90 percent” done.

But parallel talks with a potential sponsor are delaying an official announcement on an event which is scheduled for June 19-22.

Fota Island hosted the Irish Open in 2001 and 2002 with brewer Murphy’s as title sponsors.

The brand is owned by Cork-based Heineken Ireland, which signed a multi-year deal to come on board as an official Irish Open sponsor for the 2012 event at Royal Portrush.

The Irish Open has survived on backing from Fáilte Ireland, the European Tour, gates receipts and a raft of associate sponsors for the last three years.

Mobile phone company ‘3’ came in for just two years before pulling the plug just a month after the 2010 Irish Open in Killarney and invested €7.5m in a four-year deal with the FAI.