Rory calls the shots

When John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote “With a Little Help from My Friends” they never have imagined it would become one of the biggest sellers of all time. 

Now, after a four-year desert trek without a title sponsor, it turns out that thanks to the cocktail of Rory McIlroy and his superstar pals, , the Irish Open is about to become one of European golf’s greatest hits.

With the world No 1 promising to repay the favour to pals Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els and Lee Westwood for agreeing to tee it up at Royal County Down from May 28-31, the Irish Open looks set to far outstrip the glory days and end up becoming the first leg of the long-awaited “Links Swing”, possibly by 2019.

Thanks to McIlroy’s clout, Dubai Duty Free — one of the world’s leading airport retailers — has come on board as title sponsor for this year with an option to remain with the event for the long haul.

In fact, given Dubai Duty Free’s track record in sports sponsorship — they back the Dubai Desert Classic, an ATP tennis event at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium and the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh — this may well turn out to be the biggest sponsorship deal in the history of the event.

Their investment this year is estimated at €5m, which should lead to a 25% increase in the prize fund to €2.5m and another step towards building the tournament into a €5million event that would form the first leg of a three-event Links Swing featuring the Scottish Open and The Open Championship.

The company was set up at the behest of the Dubai government in 1983 when it asked a 10-man team that included the current Executive Vice Chairman, Ballinasloe born Colm McLoughlin (72), to move from Aer Rianta’s Shannon operation to Dubai in 1983.

“The good thing is that Dubai Duty Free, like the Masters, has long term relationships and short term contracts,” said outgoing European Tour Chief Executive George O’Grady.

“So we have a one-year agreement and then we will review. But I should say that we also agreed the Dubai Desert Classic for one year and that was 26 years ago. And Dubai Duty Free agreed to sponsor the Irish Derby for one-year and that was 10 years ago.”

McLoughlin admitted it was his long-serving vice-president of marketing, Sinead El Sibai, who twisted his arm to get involved in the Irish Open. But in reality, the huge wave of publicity a star like McIlroy can generate made it a no-brainer for a company with major Irish links.

With other US stars such as Dustin Johnson being lined up to join Els, Garcia, Fowler, Westwood and the Irish major winners Pádraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke, the field for the first “Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation” is set to be the strongest ever.

It now remains for the Irish Open to secure a date closer to the Open, setting up the possibility of a Links Swing leading into The Open.

The first week in July currently occupied by the Alstom Open de France. But that contract runs it course before the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris and it would be perfect, not just for a Links Swing but also for Dubai Duty Free.

It may take a few years to achieve that goal and while McIlroy will call the shots, it’s clear that the objective will be to play as often as possible on links terrain.

While the Faldo Course at Lough Erne has already been confirmed as host for 2017, a venue such as County Louth might be ideal in 2016 with Donald Trump’s revamped Doonbeg a potential host in 2018.

As McIlroy said in a video message played at the press conference, “…hopefully this is just the start of things to come and we can make it even bigger and even better.”