Double triumph offers windfall to players

The winner of this week’s Irish Open will not only be €413,000 better off, but also halfway to an incredible pay-day of almost €2.18m for a fortnight’s work.

A bonus of €1m is on offer to anyone who wins the Irish Open and the following week’s BMW PGA Championship.

With a first prize of €413,000 at Adare Manor and €721,000 up for grabs at Wentworth, that adds up to €2,180,000 for just eight rounds of golf.

No-one has previously won the two titles back to back as the tournaments have historically been played in different months, but Seve Ballesteros (1983), Bernhard Langer (1987) and Ian Woosnam (1988) have all captured the titles in the same season.

Among those chasing the huge payout will be Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, who will defend the Irish Open title he won last year in extraordinary circumstances.

Bjorn carded an opening 78 in miserable weather at Carton House and admitted he was checking timetables for the next flight home before shooting a second-round 66.

Further rounds of 67 and 72 – the final round was carried over into Monday due to more bad weather – completed a remarkable turnaround as birdies on the last two holes sealed a one-shot win over Paul Casey, with local favourite Darren Clarke a stroke further back in third.

The 36-year-old will approach the defence of his title in good form after finishing sixth in Spain last week, although he is expecting a much tougher test than provided at Aloha Golf Club on the Costa del Sol.

“I went to Spain after two weeks off with my wrist in a cast [he injured it in a fall] just to try and play well and get some confidence and it was a good finish,” Bjorn told PA Sport.

“Both Lee (Westwood) and I have been searching a little bit of late but when it comes back you never really lose that feeling of being in contention.

“It’s been a while and you don’t feel right on top of everything, you battle a few things out there and don’t get the maximum out of it, but it was nice to have the feeling again, that’s for sure.

“When you get that feeling again and get right in there, that’s what we play golf for. That’s probably why we seem so frustrated at times when we don’t have that feeling.

“We live for those Sundays when the heart is beating, the pulse is going a little bit quicker; that’s all we want to do. That’s why when you go through a long period of time when you don’t have it you get frustrated.

“It’s nice to be defending champion [in Ireland] but I have to build on this. This golf course wasn’t the longest, Ireland is going to be a completely different kind of test. I’m quite sure it will be different weather as well.

“There is still a little bit of work to do but I’m very happy with the result, that was the important thing.”