wd Kelly.

Not sure if Steve Palmer has broken his extended losing run?

Granted he's often a shocking after-timer but he may have flagged a €1 ne/w touch earlier last week?

As expected...


THE RYDER CUP IS COMING TO IRELAND!... Sept 2026


Adare Manor in the southwest of Ireland (Limerick) will be confirmed as the venue for the 2026 Ryder Cup today, following an agreement between the European Tour and the Irish Government.

Lads , been away in Kerry since Monday after the Open , no computer facilities .

I posted re Lowry on Wednesday before a ball was struck in earnest .  Why Lowry?  He knows the course , beat a friend of ours in the final of the North , can play in bad weather and is a brilliant up and downer .  Plus in practice he was doing the right things .  Example : on Monday in practice with Gmac and James Sugrue at the 13th green he dropped 3 balls in the left hand bunker and played 3 consecutive shots to within 2 feet of the notional pin ( towards the front pin position they would probably use on the Sunday) .  Guess where he finished on Sunday ! And repeated the dose with the ball that mattered , Fleetwood was over the green , as were most, and had a 4 . Gmac played 2 out of the same bunker in practice  ( on the course where he learned his golf ) and left them 12 feet and 25 feet from the hole .

In practice one of our senior Ryder Cuppers was "arsing around" in my view , finished nowhere .  Rory was hitting everything left according to people we know who operate exclusively and professionally on the practice area , Tiger was not impressing people there either .  Tiger drifted from 18 to 30 in the 4 days leading up to the start , there was a reason for that . Soon as I saw him in practice on Monday I put a line through him .

Phil apparently arrived on Sunday , had a look at the course and said " I cant win here" .

The coach of one of the younger guys on the European tour was at our barbecue on the Wednesday night , talked up in particular one of his charges , some of the lads backed him at 175 , laid him back when he was one of the 8 on the main leaderboard . Faded on the Sunday , as did a lot of others , most cant handle bad weather .  Too young and inexperienced at Open level , but impressed me for the future . Not posting his name though , will keep it up my sleeve.

Someone castigated me a while ago doubting that I backed Kjeldsen at a big price when he won in RCD in 2015 ( Irish Open ) . Backed off though when offered a decent bet by me to teach him a lesson . Kjeldsen also was practicing properly there , unlike one of his practice partners ( holding quite a few majors) who did not impress .  If you have eyes and ears you can learn a lot , mainly about attitudes .  Jack was right when he said that 90% of those competing in Majors cant win .  Finding the 10% is the trick , and they are not always the front runners in the betting .   

I wouldn't sneer at £1 e/w a 100/1 winner , my  bet was £5 win only though , purely for interest as my main activity is trading and I had a  very good book on the Open , betting for about 5 months pre event starting .  Rahm was my best winner as I laid him decently at 13/1 and backed him at 20 to 25 . Touched 4 in running too , bonkers price in an Open with 3 days to go and unpredictable weather .

I said to the lads after Shane had won , "if they kept playing another 2 rounds Koepka would win the Open" .  Most agreed with me , he impressed me hugely and he has a great team around him .  And he listens to that team and trusts them . Did not wait long to put down another marker , missed that all , away in windy Kerry . Drove through Adare from Kerry around 5 o clock today ( Monday ), no traffic going my way , strung out back to the end of the motorway going the other way into Adare though , could not figure that out .  Locals ( not Adare natives probably) looking forward to a by pass Ryder Cup or not .  Have not been in there since JP got involved , but reports from others give it a big thumbs up , best thing ever to happen I was told , although if its over 300 euros to play there( as reported ) most people wont sample it .

Good to see Shane with the Clara jug at the hurling , sadly for Offaly they don't look like getting into that scenario either in football or hurling where they once were more than competitive . Wonder will he have to go through "customs" with it and face tariffs on it defending his title  if Gussie Fink Nottle gets away with a no deal Brexit ?

Lots of chat up at Portrush regarding the outcome of the Open , including some fairly informed comment re Rory . None of our lot fancied his chances given the prospect of wind . Not going to post specific comment on Rory  on here  , just general comments . Rory should be blowing away some of his opponents given the potential game he has , but seems to have forgotten how to do that .

Some of the most informed comments I heard came from caddie contact , particularly those with local connections . On Thursday morning (just a.m.I think)  I was standing looking at the main scoreboard and David McNeilly came over to speak to me , we go back a long way when he was Sir Nick's caddie in Portmarnock ( Carrolls ). He also caddied for Padraig and Nick Price to name but two Major winners never mind Sir Nick's exploits , albeit after he left Nick . After talking with me and my brother as he was walking away I realised he was out that afternoon in the Tiger 3 ball .  Wished him luck , didn't do Matt Wallace much good , and apparently there was dialogue between them that day . Will find out about that some time later .

Let nothing detract from Shane Lowry's win though , it was brilliant golf and under big pressure from Tommy initially , but Tommy has a tendency to throw in an average round every 1 in 4 , a bit like Rory . Hopefully Shane gets another win soon , there is nothing like the winning habit . He looked fitter last week , TV of course does not slim you down , some of the golfers in the Open looked a lot slimmer than I thought , and some were tiny, tall does not necessarily mean long off the tee . Woosie used to prove that , saw him playing alongside Greg Norman and outdriving Greg regularly . 

Harry Diamond learnt his golf at our club , played Senior Cup for us , Rory wanted him to turn pro .  Rory's best mate .  Very good putter too. Switched to another club though , better practice facilities there .  Then he picked up Rory's bag . But your best mate is not going to rip into you if you need it . Ricky and Brooks had an interesting conversation for instance when Brooks had 4 bogeys in a row in the USPGA  with Dustin tucked in behind , blowing most of a 7 stroke overnight lead. Ricky is friendly with one of my sons , and paths crossed when Ricky was scouting out the course about a month before the Open . Koepka has a brilliant team around him , and he follows their advice .  So far it is working very well .  Best in the world at present , and he is a big strong fairly young guy , with a great back up team . The body language post USPGA involving Brooks and his entourage / family / caddie was enlightening .   Here to stay I think .

One of the leading fancies for the Open took time to visit Adare Manor just before the Open , leaving Portrush.  Not what I would do , no matter how attractive the invite .

Adam Scott was a huge disappointment , he had been on hand for a good time before the Open , played poorly . Slight enigma.

The Players Championship
Canadian Open Champion
Tour Championship
FedEx Cup Champion

((((THE IRISH OPEN)))) .....28th-31st MAY 2020.

...moved to a new date in May next year to avoid a clash with a high-profile tournament in the US.

The venue is still be confirmed (Mount Juliet and The Island both thought to be under consideration).

Traditionally been held two weeks before The OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP in July, but in 2020 that would have clashed with the WGC St Jude Classic in Memphis.
The French Open will now be held from July 2nd-5th instead.
The changes were confirmed as the European Tour released its full schedule for 2020, which features 46 Race to Dubai events in 29 different countries.
The programme has been planned around the Olympics in Tokyo from July 30th-August 3rd and the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits from September 25th-27th.

1368 views

Harrington, Lowry & Dunners all miss the (level par) cut, along with big names like Poulter, Li, Kaymer, Sullivan, Casey & Italy's 'Major' golfer Francesco Molinari.

Moynihan, the Dub who 'plays bitta golf', #162nd on the Race to Dubai is now up to 140th after a Tour career best of a share of 5th place - he's heading to the annual birdie fest, the Portugal Masters in the Algarve - the final event, a top-three finish would lift him inside the cut-off mark of 117th for full 2020 Tour membership.

Catch Me ifyoucan • October 3, 2019 5:18 PM BST
((((THE IRISH OPEN)))) .....28th-31st MAY 2020.

Rory has confirmed that the Irish Open will be his only European Tour event in 2020 ahead of the 149th OPEN. He also confirmed his 2020 golfing intentions, citing overseas travel issues ahead of a year set to feature three WGC events, the Olympics and Ryder Cup.....so, Hawaii in January and “that gives me a solid sort of six months in the US where I’m not having to travel a bunch and I think that helped how I performed last season.”

Kilkenny's MARK POWER (2nd seed on the Wake Forest Men's Golf team) becomes the first freshman from the men's side to win the East Lake Cup Individual Title.
His uncle Brendan McDaid - PGA golf coach at Carr Golf Centre Spawell, Dublin - must be delighted !

The East Lake Cup is a collegiate competition featuring top-performing teams from the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships. The East Lake Cup takes place at historic East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia, and air live on Golf Channel from October 28 - 30, 2019.
Modelled after the NCAA Golf Championships, the format for the East Lake Cup consists of an opening round of stroke play to crown an individual male and female champion and determine seeding for the following two days of match play competition.

Many individual winners have gone on to have successful careers on the PGA Tour, including 1961 champion Jack Nicklaus, 1967 champion Hale Irwin, 1996 champion Tiger Woods, and three-time champions Ben Crenshaw ('71,'72 & '73) and Phil Mickelson ('89, '90 & '92). Curtis Strange 1974 and Jay Haas 1975 - both represented Wake Forest when winning the Individual Title. MARK joins elite company !

An impressive birdie on 18 to shoot 5-under-par and claim the East Lake Cup individual title, by 2 shots from Vick, on a tough day on the course. https://twitter.com/i/status/1188934458017230849

The 2016 the East Lake Cup tournament added a day of stroke play to the competition.

MOUNT JULIET it is then.....Proud Host of The 2020 DDF Irish Open.

...on the Jack Nicklaus Signature Designed Course.
...hosted three Irish Open Tournaments, in 1993 Faldo, 1994 Langer and 1995 Torrance and a Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf match between Tom Watson and Fred Couples in 1997.
...played host to golfing legends Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia and Pádraig Harrington for the WGC American Express Golf Championship in September 2002 and 2004.
...first opened in 1991 it's home to the Paul McGinley Golf Academy.

RORY wins in a playoff at the WGC-HSBC Champions!
The reigning FedEx Cup champ claims his first victory of the season and 4th of the 2019 calendar year.
He’s already thinking ahead....DUBAI in a few weeks

Watching his schedule more carefully from now on will help him (he’ll play when and where HE wants)

Mount Juliet a worthy course for the 2020 Irish Open , which has rightfully regained  recognition as one of the front line European events . Needs to have top courses , show casing our unbelievable array of world class venues , Mount Juliet belongs up there as one of our top inland courses . Greens top class , presumably that will continue .

Great memories of previous events there , first place I saw Tiger in person ( 2002 ) . Hopefully some of the USA players will come , although May is in the Major season window which is always a problem .  Weather should be good around  28th May , and plenty of light .

Hope to travel down , love venue and surrounds .

First day back at Q School for DUNNERS

*Walker Cup (played with wee Rory) and Eisenhower Trophy (with Shane Lowry)