Irish on Tour: McKibbin returns as Walsh and Byrne chase American dream

Ronan MacNamara
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Sara Byrne (Photo by Oisin Keniry/R&A via Getty Images)

Ronan MacNamara

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DP World Tour

The dust has barely settled on what was a fantastic 2024 season on the DP World Tour for Tom McKibbin who will begin his 2025 campaign on Thursday at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

McKibbin heads to Gary Player Country Club in Sun City where he will be part of a high quality field.

McKibbin’s soon to be PGA Tour colleagues, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Will Zalatoris, Corey Conners, Thomas Detry, Max Homa, Mackenzie Hughes and Erik Van Rooyen are all pencilled in to compete.

LPGA TOUR 

Sara Byrne and Lauren Walsh are in Alabama this week for the LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying at Magnolia Grove Golf Club.

The 2024 LPGA Tour season officially ended a week ago at the CME Group Tour Championship but the Q-Series event represents the final opportunity for players to earn a Tour card for the 2025 season.

More than 100 competitors will be vying with Byrne and Walsh for the top-25 and ties to get a card.

Walsh and Byrne both progressed through the earlier stages of the qualifying series.

Castlewarden woman Walsh just concluded her rookie season on the Ladies European Tour at the Spanish Open on Sunday so she will head Stateside with some competitive golf under her belt following a T-16 finish.

Both Byrne and Walsh have grown up playing golf together and having made their way through the amateur ranks, often partnering each other for Ireland, they are hopeful they can continue their journey alongside each other on the LPGA Tour next season.

“This is something I have dreamt of since I was eight or nine years of age so getting to live it out is pretty cool,” said Byrne.

ASIAN TOUR

Graeme McDowell will have an opportunity to put himself in the shop window for a new LIV Golf contract at this week’s International Series event at the PIF Saudi International in Riyadh Golf Club.

After being handed a lifeline by Brooks Koepka at Smash GC for this season on the Saudi backed breakaway circuit, McDowell is facing an uncertain winter with the Irish Mirror reporting that he has yet to be offered a contract renewal for the 2025 LIV Golf League.

McDowell, 45, ended the 2024 season in the Open Zone meaning he is a free agent until the start of the new campaign.

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