Harrington and Lowry back September date for Irish Open

Padraig Harrington plays his approach to the 11th on day two of the Horizon Irish Open

Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry believe the Horizon Irish Open’s new September date is ideal as it gives the event the best chance of attracting a top-class field.

Eight of the world’s top 50 made the trip to Co Kildare and while Harrington always liked the idea of a July date on a links course two weeks before The Open, he admits the move to September, when the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup playoffs have finished, is the best solution for what is now a strong, standalone, DP World Tour event.

“I had liked the idea of a links golf course in the build-up to The Ppen but I've got to say you're going to attract better players,” Harrington said after closing with a disappointing, two-over 74 to finish 79th on level par.  

“Right now, the FedEx has finished, you’ve got the Wentworth next week and any player who's going to come for Wentworth, they're going to come over here for two weeks.  

“You see like a player like Adam Scott choosing to come here. That's a big deal for the tournament. Horizon have definitely upped the game for the Irish Open.

"Everything about this tournament is first class and I'm not just talking about the prize money but everything else that goes with it.

“It's very important that the whole player experience is looked after and you know, this is a really big event. I suppose it helps to come to The K Club, which is a championship venue.  

“At the end of the day, this is the sort of venue that we players want to come to. They're tested on the golf course and everything else that goes with it is exceptional.”

Lowry clinched his best finish of the season yesterday and he too reckons September is the perfect date

“Obviously you're gonna get me and Rory and Padraig and whatever Irish players are out there playing this tournament,” Lowry said.

“But you've got Adam Scott, Billy Horschel this year and I would argue that if the Ryder Cup wasn't on in two weeks time, maybe next year, you might get a couple more Americans.  

“But look, the thing is with golf, we don't know what way our schedule is going to go over the next couple of years. So I think this is a great date for the Irish Open. I live in America, and everybody asks me the best time to go to Ireland and I always say September. You've seen the weather we had in July this year and I always feel like you get pretty decent weather in September in Ireland. So this is a good date.”

As for The K Club, which will host the event in 2025 and 2027, when it celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Irish Open, Lowry is a big fan.

“It’s great,” he said. “It works well for everyone I think. For the sponsors, they've got their offices in Dublin so it's quite close to that.  

“The venue itself, the nice hotel on site, the golf course is great. I watched some clips from the Ryder Cup in 2006 last week sitting at home and there are not many new tee boxes since the Ryder Cup in 2006 and 14 or 15-under is going to win this.

"It just goes to show that if you set up a golf course properly, it does actually play the way it should do.

"I went through the course this morning with Paul McGinley in there and you're hitting nine irons and wedges a lot out there.

“But it is still very difficult so I think the golf course has been amazing this week and they've done a great job here and we're back here in a couple years’ time and then two years after that as well.”