Irish Open diary: Three places at St Andrews an added incentive for the field

Added incentive

As if a €5.7 million prize fund isn’t incentive enough, there are fringe benefits in play at the tournament this week with the R&A offering the leading three players who finish in the top-10 and ties who are not already exempt places in the 150th British Open at St Andrews on July 14th-17th.

Currently, there are 26 players in the 156-man field exempt for the final men’s Major of the year at the home of golf, among them three Irish players: Shane Lowry, Séamus Power and Pádraig Harrington. The Irish Open is the 10th event in the British Open qualifying series which has offered places at tournaments played around the globe. The John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour will also have three exemptions available.

[ Seamus Power eager to impress and contend on home soil ]

Make A Wish

There’s a new logo attached to the new US Senior Open champion’s polo shirt for this week’s Irish Open.

Pádraig Harrington, a long-time ambassador for Make A Wish Ireland, will have the charity’s logo branded on his chest for the duration of the tournament. He also got to renew acquaintances with 26-year-old Patrick McEnery, a decade after first meeting him at the 2012 Irish Open in Killarney.

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McEnery, who lives with cystic fibrosis, plays off a 3.8 handicap index out of Killarney and teamed-up with Harrington for the pre-tournament Pro-Am. Make A Wish is the nominated charity for this week’s tournament.

Take the bus

Don’t drive, take the bus! That’s the message for golf fans commuting to Mount Juliet with Bus Éireann running special direct services from Kilkenny Castle to Thomastown through all four competition days.

“We want to encourage golf fans to leave their cars at home and take one of our special Expressway services directly to Mount Juliet, avoiding rising fuel prices and the hassle of car parking,” said Alan Brennan, business development manager with the company. Tickets, in the form of wristbands, cost €10 for return journeys.

The trips from Kilkenny City will operate from 7am with final departures back from Mount Juliet between 6.30pm and 7.30pm.

Number’s game: 80,000

That’s the aggregate attendance expected at Mount Juliet for this year’s staging of the tournament, a year after only a limited attendance was allowed due to Covid restrictions. The event is a complete sell-out for Saturday and Sunday.

Quote of the day

“I feel like I’m very imaginative human being. I’m not very good staying there with block practice and trying to hit the same shot 50 times in a row. I want variety and be able to take that challenge on”

—  Defending champion Lucas Herbert of Australia