When you’re a touring pro, the rare opportunities to tee it up and compete on home soil are weeks to be cherished and Ronan Mullarney is one of 16 players in the field for the HotelPlanner Tour’s Irish Challenge at Killeen Castle.
The Galway native is playing his second full season on the DP World Tour’s primary feeder having graduated once again via the Alps Tour’s Order of Merit in 2025 and having made several scouting trips to the County Meath venue over the past 12 months, he’s excited to see what he can produce over the following four days.
“Pretty good,” he said when asked how he felt about his game on the tournament’s eve. “It’s going to be a slightly different test to last year. It’s a but firmer, a little bit faster, it’s a lot warmer, but it’s in great shape and I’ve played here a bunch of times since last year so I’m looking forward to it.
“I’ve been here a lot over the past few months. Cormac Ryan, the Director of Golf here, couldn’t do enough for any of the Irish lads here, so he’s been a huge help there. But it’s a big golf course, and I’ve just tried to familiarise myself with the golf course as much as I could.”
Last year’s staging – won by France’s Oihan Guillamoundeguy at 11-under after being the only player in the field to shoot four consecutive rounds in red figures – provided one of the stiffest tests the HotelPlanner Tour pros faced all season, and that’s likely to be the case again.
For Mullarney, it’s not so much the length of the golf course that presents the toughest challenge, it’s the bunkers and where they’re positioned off the tee.
“You cannot hit it in those bunkers off the tee, and it seems that whatever yardage they are off the tee is perfect for me to be landing in them,” he explained. “I have to make sure I avoid them, and it’s the same in most events, but I think this week putting [is key]. They’re not easy greens to read, there are so many slopes, there’s a little grain which is unusual for Ireland, but they’re really good so you have to pay a lot of attention to those.”
Typically, with events in South Africa, India, and leading European hotspots making up the bulk of the schedule prior to the mid-summer jaunts to northern Europe, the players become accustomed to sunshine and competing in Ireland is often a jolt to the system but with mediterranean temperatures forecast all week, that’s not the case.
“It’s amazing,” Mullarney said. “I think we’re going to get a little drop of rain on Sunday, but other than that it’s perfect all week, so fortunately, no excuses.”
Living in Dublin, it’s roughly a 45-minute commute to the venue on roads he knows well, but actual tournament preparation and practice routines don’t differ from a typical week on the road.
“No, it’s exactly the same, but everything’s just a little easier,” he said. “You know where you’re going, it’s your own car, you’re sleeping in your own bed, and it’s probably a lot easier to fill the days, so outside of your practice or playing nine or 18 holes, you can just go about your normal life rather than when you’re abroad and sometimes don’t know what to be doing with yourself.
“Yeah, everything is just that little bit easier, but as far as preparation goes, that’s all the same really.”
For Maullarney, and the other 15 Irishmen, there’s also the Christy O’Connor Jnr Memorial Trophy, awarded to the leading Irish player after 72 holes, up for grabs and with it, a place in the Amgen Irish Open at Doonbeg in September.
“Absolutely!” he declared when asked if that would be in the back of his mind all week. “I mean, Doonbeg, I go down there and practice every year. Brian Shaw and the lads there are so good to me, so that’s definitely a goal. It was a goal at the start of the year, it’s still a goal now.”
“But it would be great to win the overall trophy as well,” he added with a grin. “There’s a few things to play for.”
Despite making six cuts in the nine tournaments he’s played, he ranks 135th on the HotelPlanner Tour with the top 120 retaining Category 14 status for next season. That’s evidence of not just the strength in depth on the HotelPlanner Tour, but also how tough it’s become to even get into the tournament field at the start of the week.
“I was kind of amazed at that,” he answered when asked about how often he’d been outside the cut off point and on the reserve list prior to tournaments. “I didn’t think that was going to be the case this year. But I took the week off when we were in the Czech Republic a couple of weeks back, thinking I was going to get into the field in Scotland [he ended up first reserve but waited in vain]. Obviously now [taking the week off], that’s my fault and it’s something I hadn’t planned for, but I think this year it’s the toughest ever to get into events. I’m sure there are reasons for it, I just don’t know what they are.
“And yeah, especially on this tour, it’s very top heavy so though I’ve made a lot of cuts, finishing between 30th and 40th is decent golf but it’s not going to get much done. Your good weeks need to really good.
“And look at the guys who are playing. Ex-Ryder Cup players, man tour winners, and that’s every week. And anybody who takes a look down the leaderboard will see that there are a lot of very recognisable names.”
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