Maguire and McIlroy set to play back to back at home as KPMG Women's Irish Open gets new date
Leona Maguire pictured at Dromoland Castle during the KPMG Women’s Irish Open which will take place at Dromoland Castle from August 31 to September 3 in 2023. Picture Brian Arthur
IRISH GOLF is set for a mega festival of golf at the end of next summer with the KPMG Women’s Irish Open and the Horizon Irish Open set to be played in back-to-back weeks.
Promoters Forefront Sports yesterday announced the €400,000 KPMG Women’s Irish Open will be brought forward three weeks on the Ladies European Tour schedule and played at Dromoland Castle from August 31 to September 3 – the week before the re-scheduled $6 million Irish Open at The K Club.
World number 11 Leona Maguire, who tied for fourth in front of an estimated 24,000 fans over the four days at the stunning Co Clare venue last September, is expected to again headline an event that will count towards qualifying for the Solheim Cup, which is scheduled for Finca Cortesin in Spain just two weeks later.
“It is our hope that this new position on the LET schedule will kick off a festival of golf for Irish golf fans as the summer of 2023 comes to a close,” said Cian Branagan, CEO of Forefront Sports.
Dr Una May, CEO of Sport Ireland, commented: “After such a long absence without women’s professional golf in Ireland, it was amazing to see so much interest in the tournament this year. Now with an earlier date and so close to the men’s tournament, I hope even more people attend the event in 2023 as we showcase the immense strength of professional golf in this country.”
Tickets for the 2023 KPMG Women’s Irish Open will go on sale in January.
As for the Horizon Irish Open, re-scheduled from early July to September 7-10, world number one Rory McIlroy, fellow Major winners Shane Lowry and Pádraig Harrington and current FedEx Cup leader Seamus Power will be in action alongside a host of Ryder Cup stars.
While the six automatic places in Luke Donald’s team will be decided after the previous week’s Omega European Masters, a bumper field is expected as the European team will be finalised at Wentworth the following week, making the Irish Open a key event for players seeking one of six wildcards.
The European Challenge Tour announced the 2023 Road to Mallorca schedule yesterday, but the venue for the Irish Challenge has yet to be confirmed.
The event, which was held at The K Club’s South Course this year and is scheduled to be played there again in 2024 and 2026, will take place the week after The Open at Hoylake from July 27-30 and clash with the South of Ireland Amateur Open at Lahinch (July 26-30).
This could leave the “South” without several leading amateurs as top Irish internationals and Walker Cup hopefuls Mark Power, Hugh Foley, Robert Moran and Matthew McClean (the reigning US Mid-Amateur champion) all played at The K Club this year.
The 2023 schedule features a record overall prize fund of €8.2 million and a minimum of 29 tournaments staged across three continents in 18 different countries.
Gary Hurley
Irish golf will have several players competing regularly on the Challenge Tour next year. But qualifying school graduates Gary Hurley and John Murphy and Challenge Tour graduate Tom McKibbin will be looking to end 2022 on a high and creep further up the Race to Dubai rankings at the DP World Tour’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open this week.
Hurley had no status on any tour just over a year ago, but having won Challenge Tour playing rights by finishing fifth on the Alps Tour Order of Merit, he went on to win his card at the six-round Q-School in Spain last month.
While McKibbin has racked up three top-20 finishes in his first three DP World Tour starts to lie 27th in the Race to Dubai, Hurley is 65th after a brace of top-35 finishes.
He’s also signed a two-year sponsorship deal with Killarney-based golf tour operator Experience Ireland Golf & Travel.
“I’m so proud to be Irish and to be working with a company who specialise in showing off our great country, not just our great golf courses, but our history too is such a perfect fit,” said Hurley, who is first off at Mont Choisy Le Golf today.
Meanwhile, just a week after announcing the top three on the Japan Golf Tour rankings will earn DP World Tour cards in 2023, the European circuit and the PGA Tour yesterday announced an expansion to the relationship with the Korea Professional Golfers’ Association (KPGA) that will see the KPGA’s Genesis Point Award Winner earn membership of the DP World Tour.
As for the LIV Golf League, the Saudi-backed circuit yesterday announced three more of its 14 venues for 2023.
Former PGA Tour venues, The Gallery Golf Club in Tucson (Mar 17-19) and The Greenbrier in West Virginia (Aug 4-6), as well as Tulsa’s Cedar Ridge Country Club (May 12-14), join El Camaleón at Mayakoba (Feb 24-26), The Grange in Adelaide (Apr 21-23), Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore (Apr 28-30) and Real Club Valderrama (Jun 30-Jul 2), the former Volvo Masters and 1997 Ryder Cup venue.
