“Playing against the world’s best players is where you want to be”

Mark Power is relishing another opportunity to compete in next month’s Amgen Irish Open at Doonbeg as he looks to put on an autumn charge towards the end of his season.

Power comfortably secured the Christy O’Connor Jnr Trophy as the low Irishman at the Irish Challenge and with that comes an invite to the Irish Open where he will join the likes of Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Tyrrell Hatton and Robert MacIntyre among others.

The Mount Juliet man will make his seventh Irish Open appearance and his fourth as a professional. In 2023, his pro debut was at the K Club where he was T33rd and earned north of €30,000 as he played the final round with eventual winner Vincent Normann of Sweden.

“My first pro event in the K Club is still the highlight of my career. To play with the guy who won the tournament in the final round was really cool. I didn’t play great last year in it but I love Doonbeg, I am a member of Lahinch we go down there. I’ve been down to the course already this year, and to get the chance to see it up there would be great.

“Obviously playing against the world’s best players, so that’s where you want to be, really.”

As for his own aspirations of making appearances on the DP World Tour a regular occurrence Power’s share of tenth spot at Killeen Castle was his best finish and first top-10 of the season as he moved from 80th to 75th in the Road to Mallorca Rankings.

The top-70 will make it to the two Chinese events where there is nearly double points on offer before the Grand Final in Mallorca on the Halloween weekend.

Power has had a very consistent season with the 26-year-old making ten of his last eleven cuts, five in a row, and missing just three in total. But he knows it’s top-10 finishes that make all the difference points wise as he hunts the top-45 for the Grand Final to give himself a chance of winning one of fifteen DP World Tour cards by season’s end.

“A big goal of mine is to get into the top-70 to qualify for China in those big events that carry more points. I have higher expectations to try and get into the top-15.”