IRISH OPEN:Next week's Irish Open at Royal Portrush will create European Tour history as Saturday, June 30th and Sunday, July 1st are officially sold out. This is the first time the European Tour has had to close ticket sales for any day of a regular tournament, endowing the Irish Open with the status of the best-selling event on the schedule, reports John O'Sullivan.
Those looking to purchase tickets for the first two days of the tournament, Thursday, June 28th and Friday, June 29th may do so up to 5pm today. In the event that these two days’ play don’t sell out tickets will be available for purchase on the gate at Royal Portrush.
That the tournament has caught the imagination of the public is hardly a surprise as local favourites and Major winners Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke will tee it up. Irish Open Championship director Antonia Beggs said: “We are preparing for a crowd around the 100,000 mark for the week of the championship. With a particularly large spectator audience expected for the weekend, we felt it prudent to stop selling tickets for Saturday and Sunday.
“While in previous years, it may have been possible for spectators to turn up on the day and purchase tickets on the day, we would strongly urge people not to try this on Saturday and Sunday as the event is completely sold out at the weekend and there is absolutely no chance of being admitted without a ticket.”
Travel information for the Irish Open, including bus and rail ticket bookings, can be elicited from www.translink.co.uk/irishopen or by calling the Translink contact centre on 00 44 (0) 28 9066 6630.
US TOUR: A double bogey on the fourth hole at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Connecticut left Pádraig Harrington trailing the field after the first round despite shooting a one-under par 69.
The early clubhouse leaders were Australian Nathan Green and American Will Claxton, who both shot 65s.
Harrington’s six on the fourth broke what was looking like a promising run as he birdied the first and second.
He then compounded the slip when he bogeyed the par three fifth, but he immediately recovered that shot on the sixth, and thereafter recorded 11 pars and a birdie over the last 12 holes.
AMATEUR:Alan Dunbar defied the winter-like conditions to move into the quarter-finals of the Amateur Championship at Royal Troon yesterday.
The 22-year-old Walker Cup man from Rathmore was simply awesome in demolishing Denmark’s Patrick Winther by 7 and 6 but then had to pull out all the stops to get past Frenchman Paul Barjon on the home green.
He now faces Sweden’s Robert Karlsson for a spot in the last four.
Headfort’s Rory McNamara defeated German Stephan Jaeger 4 and 3 in round three, before falling to Scotland’s Jack McDonald despite being two up at the turn. Kevin Phelan of Waterford Castle went down in the third round on the 19th hole to Italian Lorenzo Scotto after a tremendous tussle.
