Stuart Grehan hunting history in West of Ireland Championship

Rory McIlroy might be in action in windy Texas, but his golfing heart-strings will feel the tug of the annual West of Ireland Championship which gets under way at a revamped Rosses Point today.

The classic Rosses Point links at County Sligo Golf Club was where McIlroy spectacularly burst onto the scene with that 2006 West win as a mere 15 year old.

And while there is a host of great players lined up for the start of the title chase today, headed by Maynooth University’s Stuart Grehan and his bid for an East-South-West of Ireland hat-trick last achieved by Joe Carr in 1948, it is the course that is the big protagonist.