Higgins chasing hat-trick of Irish Club Pro wins at Dromoland

Waterville’s David Higgins is chasing an unprecedented treble as the PGA Irish Club Professional Tournament starts tomorrow at Dromoland Castle.

Victory in the two-day event sponsored by Carr Golf, DS Automobiles and Monami Construction would secure a third win a row for the 45-year-old.

“I think it would be a great thing to add to the CV and I would love to do it,” said Higgins.

“If you win three in a row at anything you are doing something right. I would be delighted to do it especially around Dromoland Castle.”

Higgins won his first Irish Club Pro title in 2016 at Dunmurry Springs edging out Michael McDermott (Grange GC) in a play-off and then made it two in a row last year at Dromoland Castle carding a pair of 72s to win by three shots.

The Co. Clare venue proved to be a real challenge for the players in 2017. Unseasonably warm weather dried out the course and the firm and fast conditions played right into David’s hands as a renowned links golf exponent.

The defending champ isn’t expecting a similar set-up this year but is still expected a tough examination.

“It’s a difficult course to score on regardless of the conditions,” he added.

“It doesn’t give you a lot of birdie chances and there are quite a lot of difficult shots. I would imagine it will be similar scoring to last year no matter what way the weather is.

“A lot of the newer courses are not so demanding off the tee. Guys can stand up and just whack it where they want which takes away one of my strong points, accuracy off the tee. Dromoland doesn’t suit that type of player, you need to be coming into the greens off the short grass.”

Seven of last year’s top-10 on the PGA in Ireland Order of Merit will tee it up at Dromoland as will the 2017 first round leader, Adam Dunmore (Bundoran GC).

Amongst those hoping to deny Higgins will be Damien Mooney (Damien Mooney Golf) who won the BMW Eastern Open at St Anne’s GC and Eamonn Brady (Clontarf GC) who fired a brilliant 66 to win the Moran Cup at Royal Dublin GC. Round one gets underway at 8am tomorrow morning.