After nine years as sponsor of the prestigious Irish Open Golf Championship, the Cork brewers, Murphy's, will withdraw from the event after the winning ball has been holed at Fota Island on Sunday week. Already, negotiations are under way to find an alternative backer.
The course, which is in impeccable condition, lies ready for the arrival of the 191-strong field, including last year's winner, Colin Montgomerie, who is returning to defend his title as Irish Open champion.
If last year's figures are anything to go by, some 70,000 people from all over Ireland and beyond will travel to scenic Fota over the weekend to witness a festival of golf.
This time last year, the sun shone brilliantly during the four-day event (there were even sunburn warnings on the radio), everything ran smoothly and the premier competition in Irish golf went off without a hitch. This year, while the organisers are loath to tempt fate, anxious glances are being cast skywards as rain continues to roll in from the south-west.
The Irish Open, in recent years, has managed to be a great crowd pleaser. Stewarding has been firm but not intrusive, and the galleries, which include many hundreds of families who make a full weekend of it, are well directed to vantage points giving superb views of the action.
Fota, in particular, has been one of the most popular venues, with a direct rail link to the course and, nearby, the stunningly restored Fota House and Fota Wildlife Park, as well as excellent catering. But the rain? Even if it continues, there will still be good golf at this year's Open. Mucky car-parks, however, wouldn't make the best entry point to a course set in parkland that looks its best when the sun obliges.
The prospect of more rain, therefore, is a cause for not a little concern as the weekend is already top heavy with sporting fixtures, including the final of the World Cup, Wimbledon, and the Munster hurling final between Tipperary and Waterford at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.
In its nine years of association with the Irish Open, Murphy's has invested over €20 million. How can the return on such a huge amount of money be measured?
Mr Padraic Liston, managing director, says that when the company took up the sponsorship, its major competitor, Guinness, was involved in high-profile GAA sponsorship.
Murphy's wanted a premium event to give focus and impetus to its own stout brand as well as other products and to concentrate minds on the fact that this Cork-based brewery, now part of the Heineken stable, was entering a new era.
One measurement is that in the nine-year period market share has grown from 12 to over 18 per cent. Last year, its turnover reached €312 million and, for the first time in Ireland, the brewery sold two million kegs from its Leitrim Street production lines.
Another, less tangible measurement is that the 2000 Irish Open was beamed to more than 200 million homes in 90 countries worldwide. Murphy's stout has made inroads internationally, says Mr Liston, and its association with the golf tournament has given it the kind of recognition it would otherwise not have enjoyed.
But, he adds, the sponsorship deal with the organisers was always a finite arrangement and the time has come to move on. "We've had a good innings and it has been of benefit to both sides but now that the event will move elsewhere after two years at Fota Island, we felt this was the time to call it a day.
"Our other major sponsorships include the Heineken Cup in rugby, the Heineken Green Energy Music Festival in Cork and Dublin and the Kilkenny Cat Laughs Festival.
"We will be looking now at an appropriate sponsorship in the Cork/Munster region, something that will have a Munster and international dimension to it."
For the organisers, this year's championship has posed less of a problem than the previous year, although the weather may yet have something to say about that, because all the groundwork was done prior to the 2000 event. The course itself was upgraded and all the infrastructure was put in to cope with the huge crowds, so that the main worry this year has been to ensure the course is in perfect condition. Last week, an official from the European tour visited Fota and declared that both fairways and greens were of the highest standards.
Like everyone else involved in the event, tournament director Mr David Linnane says all that's needed now for a perfect weekend of top class golf, is for some good weather to arrive. The Irish Open, he adds, is not top of the prizemoney list but has established itself nevertheless as a major event on the tour calendar and one which regularly attracts the big names in the game.
Even as preparations for this year's event are continuing, thoughts are turning to future sponsorship. Mr Linnane said it appeared at one stage as if the Northern Ireland Events Company would become the new sponsor but a deal was not agreed. Talks have been opened with other interests and an announcement should be made in the near future.
In the Murphy's era, the championship has been held at Mount Juliet, in Kilkenny, Druids Glen in Wicklow and Ballybunion in Kerry. Next year's venue has not been announced but there is no shortage of host applicants, according to Mr Linnane.
In a long history, stretching back to 1927, when the first prize was £150, the Irish Open has had its ups and downs. The championship was not staged between 1953 and 1975 when P.J. Carroll & Co revived it.
"We don't have the name of the new sponsor yet, but what we can say with 100 per cent certainty is that there will be an Irish Open next year," Mr Linnane said.
The winner this year will receive €266,660, with €177,770 for the runner-up and a third prize of €100,160.