GOLF: Tour Scene/News round-up: After spending much of the year in limbo, with no sponsor, no date and no home, a meeting in a plush Dublin hotel this afternoon - coinciding with the simultaneous release on the PGA European Tour's website of the full 2003 schedule - will confirm that next year's Irish Open has not only been saved, but that is has found a new sponsor, a new date and a new home that is really an old home.
Indeed, the Irish Open is poised for a return to a traditional links course; and not just any links course. After organisers encountered severe difficulties in securing a suitable venue for next year's tournament, the perfect solution - whether by accident or design - has unfolded with Portmarnock, which played host to the event on 12 occasions between 1976 and 1990, poised to play the role of saviour.
The superb north county Dublin links is set to stage the championship, one of the oldest on the European Tour schedule, immediately after the British Open.
In terms of enticing some of the top Americans to stay on after the season's third major, the date and venue could not be better. It is believed that the tournament - over which a large degree of uncertainty was placed when Murphy's decided to end their tenure as title sponsors at this year's staging at Fota Island after nine years at the helm - will have a prize fund of around €2 million, an increase of €400,000 on this year's purse.
An official announcement on the sponsor (a secret more closely guarded than the gold at Fort Knox), the date and the venue will be made this afternoon, and it will bring to an end the period of uncertainty about the event. Only recently, the Minister for Sport, John O'Donoghue admitted it would be "incongruous" to market Ireland as a golf tourism destination without an Irish Open, and, to that end, Bord Fáilte can be considered the main associate sponsor in ensuring the event's survival.
The shift in dates to the last week in July (traditionally occupied by the Dutch Open, who themselves have run into sponsorship problems) is also a good one for the Irish Open. In recent years, the event has had a date in the last week in June, immediately before the European Open at the K Club.
It was a move by the European Tour that created a sort of "Celtic Swing" mid-season, but possibly harmed the Irish Open when it became decision time for players to take a week's break before a series of big events that led up to the British Open.
Moving the Irish Open back to a links course, especially with the profile of Portmarnock, which is undergoing some tweaking, including moving the first hole further into the estuary, has enormous significance not only in the promotion of Irish golf abroad but also in underlining the importance of the Irish Open to the country.
Meanwhile, Ireland's leading tournament professionals are chasing more loot around the globe this week. Fresh from his win in the BMW Asian Open, which has put him top of the 2003 moneylist, Padraig Harrington will team up with Darren Clarke in the Million Dollar Challenge at Sun City, starting on Thursday. The other players are Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk, Nick Price, Chris DiMarco, Colin Montgomerie, Bob Estes, Michael Campbell and Robert Allenby.
Peter Lawrie, who won his card via the Challenge Tour, is the only Irish player competing in the Hong Kong Open this week, while Graeme McDowell competes in the Casio World Open in Kagosima, Japan.
Harrington has been selected as the Professional Player of the Year by the Irish Golf Writers' Association. In a season in which Paul McGinley sank the winning putt in the Ryder Cup, and when Graeme McDowell became one of the fastest winners on the European Tour with victory in the Scandinavian Masters in only his fourth tournament, Harrington's consistency at the highest level earned him a second successive award.
In finishing second to Retief Goosen in the European Order of Merit, Harrington, who improved his world ranking from 11th to eighth during the course of the year, had one tournament win - in the Dunhill Links - among 10 top-10 finishes, three of which came in major championships.
Colm Moriarty has been named as Men's Amateur Player of the Year. The Athlone player won the South of Ireland championship at Lahinch, was runner-up in the Brabazon Trophy and a semi-finalist in the West of Ireland, while also claiming the Willie Gill trophy for topping the GUI's Order of Merit.
Rebecca Coakley, winner of the Irish Close and Irish strokeplay championships, won the vote for Women's Amateur of the Year. Although born in Australia, Coakley, who intends to pursue a career among the professional ranks, was eligible to play in the Irish championship because her parents hail from Carlow.
The award for Distinguished Services to Golf will be presented to Pat Ruddy, arguably the foremost living course designer in the country. Owner and designer of the European Club, which has three holes selected in Golf magazine's 500 greatest holes in the world, Ruddy's architectural portfolio also includes the two courses at Druids Glen and the Glashedy links at Ballyliffin.
The presentation of awards will take place at the annual IGWA dinner, sponsored by Murphy's, at Elm Park GC on Friday night.
