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Irish Open [spoilers]

the_paulo

the_paulo

Euro target practice
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Lot of players excited to see this tournament return to Royal Portrush. Bit of a special course to a few players. GMac's home course for a start - he has been one of perhaps 4 players (anyone name Irish major winners? :D ) who have made this happen. Gmac has stated that he 'expects' to play well this week.

I think we might see some low scoring this week. There has been a bit of rain, so the greens will be receptive, and if the winds stay down the guys will be shooting for the pins.

Paddy is certainly excited for it -

Spoiler
Padraig Harrington has compared the atmosphere ahead of this year’s Irish Open to that of The Open Championship as he prepares to play a competitive round on the stunning Dunluce Links at Royal Portrush Golf Club for the first time in 17 years.
​
The three-time Major winner has often stated that the Northern Ireland course is his favourite in the world, and this week he joins one of the strongest fields of the season in an event that has already broken records by becoming the first European Tour tournament to completely sell out for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The hype is unprecedented, even for a tournament which annually captures the imagination of Ireland as well as the rest of the world, and Harrington is enjoying every minute of it.​
“It is special that it’s here,” said the Irishman, who beat Bradley Dredge in a play-off to win the 2007 Irish Open. “I think with the atmosphere, anybody is going to be proud to win the tournament this week on this golf course and with the people that are coming out.

“Even for a player who has never played golf in Ireland, and it’s his first time here and the Irish Open has no particular significance to him, he would eventually be excited to win this tournament because of the atmosphere created. ​
“There’s 27,000 people and they are all going to try to cram onto that 18th hole on Sunday. I don’t think you could surpass the atmosphere that’s going to be here during the week.

“If you go to an Open Championship, you have 35,000 people or so. But to be honest, I think the atmosphere here will be just as good. It's quite a tight golf course that way. It’s quite enclosed. You can already feel a nice vibe about the place. ​
“So it’s just going to be one of those weeks that anybody playing here is going to feel the pressure, and it’s going to be an exciting week to be in contention – even more so if you win it.”

Having come close to winning at Royal Portrush twice as an amateur, finishing second at the North of Ireland Championship in 1993 and 1995, Harrington did admit that there is some unfinished business this week, and he believes the course could not be in better condition for him to make amends.​
“I think the golf course is set up perfectly,” he said. “I think having had the rain over the last couple of weeks, it’s going to help us out a little bit that the greens are not too firm.

“There are holes where you’re going to find trouble, but you definitely can hit good shots out there and I think it would be a question of trying to make as many birdies as you can and accepting a couple of mistakes here and there.”
​
Michael Hoey also compared the atmosphere to that of The Open Championship, and he is delighted with the tweaks that have been made to the course in preparation for the first Irish Open in Northern Ireland in 65 years
.“I would have laid odds they would have made the golf course a bit short, but they have produced some really good course design,” said the reigning Alfred Dunhill Links Champion.

“They have put a few tees just far enough back, and it’s soft conditions at the minute, which means it’s playing long. So I think this course is now set up just perfectly, and visually it’s great. It’s just pure, great links – a bit like St Andrews. It’s really good.”
​


Must admit that I'm quite excited for this one. Lot of big names in the field this week, including Keegan Bradley, who stated that he wanted to make the trip in honour of his Irish blood! Not sure if Jon Daly is playing for the same reasons, but he's probably sunk enough Guinness to claim resident status.

Simon Dyson defends, and he's out early with GMac and Paddy. The other big group I see is Rory, Keegan and a young player I've admired this season, Branden Grace.

Anyone tuning in to see some links golf this week?​
 
I'm tuning in for sure paulo. I'd almost rather watch this than the AT & T to be honest. I don't think Lee's playing this week. Nor Poults. Both seemed to have taken a bashing from folks on twitter b/c they aren't going to be there.
 
I like this tourney and will be watching Paulo. Took Thursday off to recover
 
No Lee, no Luke, no Poults. I'd have expected at least Lee to make it for this one. They're touting this as the shiny new tournament on the schedule, so you'd like to think they'd get the top guys there. There's a strong field anyway, but would have been nice for these guys to show.
 
the_paulo said:
No Lee, no Luke, no Poults. I'd have expected at least Lee to make it for this one. They're touting this as the shiny new tournament on the schedule, so you'd like to think they'd get the top guys there. There's a strong field anyway, but would have been nice for these guys to show.
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They're all saying it just conflicts with their scheduling. I don't get it. I would do about anything to play in something that the Euro Tour is trying to convert into a flag ship event.

Bummer that they aren't going to be there.
 
I'll be watching this too Paulo, I love watching Euro golf in the mornings.
 
I'll be tuned in for sure
 
TC said:
They're all saying it just conflicts with their scheduling. I don't get it. I would do about anything to play in something that the Euro Tour is trying to convert into a flag ship event.

Bummer that they aren't going to be there.
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I'm not buying that either. I thought it set up nicely as a start to the run up to the Open. I wonder if the prize pot or appearance pot is a little smaller than it might be next year....

JRod said:
Go Colsaerts!
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Why the heck not? There might be a birdie barrage in the right conditions, and this guy can do just that.
 
Just back from the Pro-Am and Harrington was playing extremley well (-5 thru 11 holes), GMac was stiking the ball very well too. Bill Murray was playing with GMac and it has to be one of the funniest things I have seen on a golf course, ever! The nicest bloke I met all day was Keegan Bradley, went out of his way ensuring all the kids got an autograph and only then was he happy to sign for adults, he was 2 holes behind at one point for the amount of signing and photo's he posed for!! The low point was definitely John Daly, a more arrogant, ignorant man I have not met and he wasn't playing poorly. There was no chane of getting near Rory or Darren for the amount of security and the crowds following him.
The weather today varied between light showers and sunshine which helped the scores, the wind is due to get up over the next 2 days which should make scoring really hard. I have an inkling that Harrington may win by 2 shots from GMac but if the wind really blows it will be a complete lottery!
 
Was listening to the radio earlier. Harrington is 10/1 and he was laughing about it telling people not to even think of backing him as he was 80/1 at the US open.

I dunno how low scores are gonna be if the wind gets up. I was up at the course last year (didn't play) just walked around the clubhouse and had a look at the practice area. The wind was up and I was struggling walking across the carpark !!!

Was very cool in the car park, Merc, Jag, BMW, Audi, Lexus and all less then 2 years old. Here was me then in my sh*tbox 2000 Ford Focus ha ha.
 
Hmmmm, I think I'm going to have to put the price of a bottle of Tullamore Dew down on Paddy and Gmac
 
Looking forward to this one. Going to be pulling for Gmac.
 
Early morning players have the best of it right now, the wind and rain is supposed to pick up this afternoon
 
I still have a hard time with Lee and other skipping this event...the Euro tour is trying to pump it up and I think it would be a great tune up for the Open Championship in a few weeks......guess I don't get it.
 
What a great shot by Harrington. 2 footer left for birdie
 
TripleBogieTim said:
I still have a hard time with Lee and other skipping this event...the Euro tour is trying to pump it up and I think it would be a great tune up for the Open Championship in a few weeks......guess I don't get it.
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I'm a Lee homer...but I agree here. I thought this would be one stop he'd have solid in his schedule.
 
TripleBogieTim said:
I still have a hard time with Lee and other skipping this event...the Euro tour is trying to pump it up and I think it would be a great tune up for the Open Championship in a few weeks......guess I don't get it.
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It's really no different than guys like Tiger deciding which events he plans to attend or skip. It's all a scheduling thing.
 
Too many tournaments in a row perhaps as Lee is playing in the French next week, i presume he's playing the Scottish then into The Open, so 4 weeks on the spin too much? Then only a week off then on to Akron.

They cant play all the time, but perhaps i would have thought Lee would have played here and missed the French.

Dyson near the top!!
 
Great first round by Paddy. 67 sees him at 5 under, only Mark Foster in the clubhouse with a better score so far. Jeev Milka Singh currently going HAM out there, minus 7 for the first 11 holes.

For any JRod's watching, Colsaerts is also in with a 67. GMac in with a 71. Wonder if things will get tougher in the afternoon? Rory and Keegan due to tee of in about 5 mins.
 
I was really pleased to see the spectator turnout for the event, first Euro event to be completely sold out.
 
the_paulo said:
Great first round by Paddy. 67 sees him at 5 under, only Mark Foster in the clubhouse with a better score so far. Jeev Milka Singh currently going HAM out there, minus 7 for the first 11 holes.

For any JRod's watching, Colsaerts is also in with a 67. GMac in with a 71. Wonder if things will get tougher in the afternoon? Rory and Keegan due to tee of in about 5 mins.
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Sweet thanks for the update bro. I will actually be watching this this morning. I'm still off work and today will be the first day I can actually sit down for more than 20 minutes.
 
Jeev Singh looks like he's tearing it up on the course: -7 through 12 holes. Not a great round by GMac, but Rory and Darren Clarke have made decent starts.
 
BogbeastUK said:
Jeev Singh looks like he's tearing it up on the course: -7 through 12 holes. Not a great round by GMac, but Rory and Darren Clarke have made decent starts.
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EDIT: Play is suspended right now due to weather, but restarting soon.

This course does look very fun to play.

I bet that more of the big Euro guys would have played if this tournament was next week instead of the French Open. If it was next week, that would have been 2 straight links events prior to the Open Championship, since the Scottish Open is back at Castle Stuart this year.
 
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The bad weather has cleared and the course looks stunning at the moment.

Rory is playing well, swing looks pretty good right now, he's at -3 through 13 holes and knocked it tight on 14.

Also, nice round for Mark Murphy at -3. He's the guy that won Big Break Ireland and got himself an exemption into this event, that start is much better than some other Big Break winners when they got their exemptions.
 
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