Mark Power has become the latest player to call for more professional golf events in Ireland after winning the Christy O’Connor Jnr Memorial Trophy at the K Club’s Irish Challenge.
The Irish Challenge was the second of back-to-back events in Ireland after Conor Purcell won the NI Open in Galgorm last week with the KPMG Women’s Irish Open and Amgen Irish Open at Carton House and Royal County Down respectively, set to bring the curtain down on Irish pro events for 2024.
Last week Jon Rahm laid out his desire for a LIV Golf links event to be held in Ireland as a warm up for the Open Championship while on Wednesday, Challenge Tour pro Ronan Mullarney stressed that Ireland is underused as a professional golf venue.
“The K Club, I love coming here and I’ve always played well thankfully on both courses. There’s something special. The facilities around these places, both ranges, practice facilities, really showcasing,” said Power who made his first professional start at last year’s Irish Open at the K Club Palmer North.
“Even the guys that I played with, everyone is receiving the course really well and the whole area really well. So, I think we should show off what we have a little bit more because golf in Ireland is only getting better.”
Spanish Olympian Rahm hopes that LIV will host a links event in Ireland next year as part of its schedule to perhaps rival the Scottish Open on the DP World Tour with Trump International Doonbeg a heavy favourite to host the event.
“There’s so much that goes into adjusting to links golf; getting used to the greens and the ball reacting on the ground. I didn’t think about it until after [Troon], but it’s undeniable how much it helps to play a links golf course the week before the Open.”
“You’re preaching to the choir; I love Ireland,” Rahm told reporter Evin Priest.
“I’ve always felt really welcome in Ireland. It feels like home and some of the most fun rounds of golf I’ve ever played are there and there are some great venues.
“So yeah, if there was an opportunity for LIV Golf to play in Ireland it would be absolutely fantastic.”
Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas played some rounds in Portmarnock, The Island, The European Club and Baltray after the Open Championship and Galway’s Mullarney feels it is a shame that they can’t stick around for some competitive action.
“Even you see Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth came and played here after the Open. Ireland is wasted, it’s such a small country but there is so much good golf here. You would like to see more in the future but can’t do much about it at the moment,” said Mullarney.
“Ireland is known for its links and we have some of the best links in the world but some of the parkland courses are phenomenal. K Club, Mount Juliet, Druids Glen, Adare. It really is a pity Ireland isn’t used more but hopefully in the future.”
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