Fota success opens Munster focus

Fota Island Resort chief executive Jonathan Woods has called for more international sporting and music events to be staged in Munster following the overwhelming success of the Irish Open in Cork at the weekend.

Enjoying good weather throughout last week, Fota Island drew 104,000 spectators over five days to the European Tour event, won on Sunday afternoon by Finland’s Mikko Ilonen. The tournament’s total attendance from Thursday to Sunday was 97,889, a figure that topped both last year’s Irish Open at Carton House, close to Dublin, and last month’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the European Tour’s flagship tournament on the outskirts of London.

Whether or not Fota Island will seek a return of the Irish Open in two years, when the tournament is set to head south again after rotating to Northern Ireland and Royal County Down for 2015, Fota chief Woods believes the Munster region has proved itself worthy of holding more events of similar international stature, also citing recent big-name music concerts in Cork at Musgrave Park and Páirc Uí Chaoimh.