Local boys Rory McIlroy and Tom McKibbin have been paired together for the opening rounds of the Amgen Irish Open at Royal County Down and defending champion Vincent Norrman will complete the trio.
11 Irish in total are in the field, and Seamus Power is the first to get into tournament action when he joins fellow PGA Tour winner Aaron Rai and Swede Sebastian Soderberg on the 10th tee at 07:50 on Thursday morning, followed swiftly by Padraig Harrington, Nicolai Hojgaard and Thomas Detry at 08:00.
Gary Hurely made his first DP World Tour cut since December 2022 at last week’s Omega European Masters and he has an 08:10 tee time alongside England’s Dan Bradbury and German Maximillian Kiefer on hole number one.
Royal Dublin amateur Max Kennedy begins his opening round at 09:20 off the first tee with Sam Bairstow and Julien Guerrier and Newcastle native Simon Thornton is the last of the early Irish starters on day one, getting into action at 09:30 with Manuel Elvira and Ricardo Gouveia for company.
The afternoon marquee groupings see Shane Lowry, Robert MacIntyre and Ryan Fox head off the first at 12:40, with the McIlroy, McKibbin and Norrman grouping two groups behind at 13:00.
Meanwhile, Mark Power and Conor Purcell will be heading off the 10th tee at 12:40 and 12:50 respectively, while teenage sensation Sean Keeling will have to wait until 14:20 get his first taste of Irish Open action.
For tee times in full, please click here.
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