There was a point in time where Irish golf dreamt about the heady heights of a triple crown in professional golf.
Shane Lowry held the lead during the first round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Lauren Walsh was co-leader after day one of the Magical Kenya Ladies Open, with Olivia Mehaffey a shot behind while Tom McKibbin was hot on the heels of the leaders early in Qatar.
No silverware shone in Irish hands on Sunday and we move on as McKibbin takes a break and some big hitters return.
PGA Tour
Tiger Woods’ latest return to competitive golf will take up 99.999999% of column spaces this week but Rory McIlroy also returns to action following a mixed week at Pebble Beach a fortnight ago.
Seamus Power also continued to show green shoots of recovery with a made cut in Phoenix and he takes his place in the field for the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, the second signature event on the PGA Tour.
Ladies European Tour
Leona Maguire makes her second start of the season at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International in Riyadh.
Maguire will be part of a star studded field including Lexi Thompson, Charley Hull, Georgia Hall and Carlota Ciganda.
The event has a prize purse of $5 million USD, which equals the payout of the men’s PIF Saudi International. This marks a significant milestone in golf, as it stands as the largest event to achieve pay parity between the men’s and women’s equivalent competitions.
Challenge Tour
While the DP World Tour has a week off the schedule, there is a stacked Irish contingent set for the Challenge Tour with as many as six players teeing it up at the Dimension Data Pro-Am.
Conor Purcell, Mark Power, Ronan Mullarney, Jonathan Caldwell, Gary Hurley and Dermot McElroy will all be in action at Fancourt Golf Estate.
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