Ahead of the Irish Challenge at Headfort (July 27-30), the field is set for the pre-tournament Monday qualifier where two spots in the field are up for grabs.
Eight countries are represented with players from the United States, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Holland, England and Scotland joining the strong Irish contingent.
The homegrown challengers, should they manage to play their way into the event proper, in addition to competing for the outright victory, will be playing for the Christy O’Connor Jr. Memorial Trophy which is awarded to the highest ranking Irish player and brings with it a guaranteed invitation to tee it up at the Horizon Irish Open at the K Club in September.
The Irish entrants include Liam Grehan, Rowan Lester, Eoin O’Brien and Conor O’Rourke who’ve been plying their trade on the Clutch Pro Tour, Paul Murphy and Michael Young who’ve been competing on the Alps Tour, and a host of club professionals and amateurs. The amateurs include Portumna’s Sam Murphy who lost out to Alex Maguire in the East of Ireland Championship playoff and Headfort’s own Evan Shipp and Tadhg Burns, the latter at 15 being the youngest player in the field.
The list of potential foreign marauders is spearheaded by Floridian Jordan Gumberg who qualified for this year’s U.S. Open at L.A. Country Club and Oregon’s Cole Madey who already has finishes of fifth and ninth place on the Challenge Tour on his resumé in 2023, while Australian Hayden Hopewell has a win and several top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour of Australasia in the past year.
Admission to the qualifier is free on a walk-in basis, and spectators can register for FREE TICKETS for the Irish Challenge by clicking here.
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