No Open invite for PGA champ McGeady

Irish PGA champion Michael McGeady will become the first winner of the national closed title to miss the Irish Open for 40 years this week.

The Derry man was ineligible for one of the eight spots awarded to the leading money winners from the PGA Irish Region as he did not possess the correct tournament player exemption. Even with John Daly pulling out at the last minute, the invitation was handed to South African Tjaart Van Walt rather than an Irish player like McGeady, who is the first reigning Irish PGA champion to miss the Irish Open since the event was revived by the European Tour in 1975.

And McGeady’s absence has prompted players such as Cork’s Niall Turner to wonder why more Irish players are not invited, with only Gareth Shaw and Ruaidhri McGee getting starts on invitations this year.