With lingering doubts removed, arrangements are currently being finalised for the Women's Irish Open to be played at Ballyliffin GC in Donegal on September 3rd to 6th. As in previous years, Bord Failte will be contributing handsomely towards the prize fund of £100,000 but it is also being supported by local sponsors.
The field, to be headed by Laura Davies, will be competing on the new Glashedy Links, which was designed by Pat Ruddy and Tom Craddock and officially opened in August 1995. Graham Marchbank, director of operations for the ELPGA Tour, visited the course recently and was delighted with both the layout and its condition.
"He indicated that the overall length will be between 6,250 and 6,300 yards, which means that he will be using mostly the forward medal tees with some of the ladies' tees," said Ballyliffin captain, Oliver Gilmore, last night. He added: "We are delighted to be playing host to such an important event and it has already aroused tremendous interest locally."
As usual, there will be a pretournament pro-am on Wednesday, September 2nd.
After the early stagings at St Margaret's, where Davies was a dominant figure, the tournament moved to CityWest in 1996 when Alison Nicholas captured the title. Its next move was to Luttrellstown Castle last year when Patricia Meunier Lebouc claimed top prize of £16,500 with an aggregate of 284.
The little-known French player is a specialist in neurolinguistic programming which, apparently, "gives people the confidence to make their own decisions". After some doubts in recent months, the organisers of the tournament, notably Padraig O hUiginn of Bord Failte, have been forced to adopt that sort of attitude to ensure its survival.
It is expected that Meunier Lebouc will be defending the title and that the field will also include Nicholas who, after finishing third at Luttrellstown, returned to America for a spectacular triumph in the US Women's Open.
Meanwhile, Colin Montgomerie, Jose-Maria Olazabal, Costantino Rocca and Thomas Bjorn were confirmed yesterday as entrants for next week's Smurfit European Open at The K Club. It means that 10 of the victorious European Ryder Cup side at Valderrama 11 months ago will be in action in the £1.5 mil lion event.
Tickets for the tournament are £60 (season) and £25 (daily) but a saving of up to £5 may be made on daily tickets by phoning the advance ticket hotline on 01 6621155.
