Conor Purcell is ready to take the Horizon Irish Open by storm when he makes his debut in the event on Thursday morning.
The Portmarnock man was granted an invite by Golf Ireland after impressing on the Challenge Tour and after the initial disappointment of missing out on an Irish Open spot at the Irish Challenge in July he is chomping at the bit to show the large Irish crowd what he can do at the K Club.
“It’s huge, when you are growing up playing golf in Ireland you are always seeing the Irish Open every year and it has been a huge event on the European Tour for years so it’s great to tee it up here for the first time,” smiled Purcell whose only professional win to date was on the Palmer North Course at an Irish Golfer sponsored tournament.
“I found out about the invite a couple of weeks ago, luckily Golf Ireland had a spot for me and I was ready to jump on it!
“Everything is falling into place nicely, the course is great, weather looks good for the week, lots of good players playing so all set for a good week.”
Purcell arrives in Kildare in good form following a share of second in the Dormy Open two weeks ago on the Challenge Tour. He has also shown he can rise to the occasion having finished a career-high T7 in the DP World Tour’s Australian Open and hopes he can continue his late promotion charge on the Road to Mallorca.
“I’ve played both courses all on different occasions, I’m working on a few things in my game and it’s a nice time to test it under the gun and see where I can take it. My family will be up for the week and I’m sure there will be big crowds out for the Irish players so it should be a good week.
“The longer you are out here and the more events you play the more you realise everyone is the same and playing the same game it only gets bigger the more you big it up in your head so just go out there and play.
“I’ve played well on the Challenge Tour, this year second place recently helps so I’m ready to push for the top-20.”
Purcell will tee off on Thursday morning alongside Frenchman Mathieu Pavon and Germany’s Nicolai Von Dellinghausen at 09:10.
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