Lahinch will be triumph despite Rory body blow, says McGinley

With only a limited number of tickets remaining for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open this weekend, tournament host Paul McGinley has all the validation he needs that bringing the European Tour to Lahinch was the right call, regardless of which stars tee it up on the prestigious links tomorrow.

Rory McIlroy was yesterday referred to as the “elephant in the room” at this week’s $7 million (€6.2m) Rolex Series event. It is true that Ireland’s world number three is conspicuous by his absence from home soil having declared last February that he would be skipping the tournament he hosted for the last four years in favour of next week’s Scottish Open as the tune-up for The Open in his backyard at Royal Portrush.