Former US Air Force pilot Tom Kane is locked in the toughest fight of his business career - the battle to save the Irish Open.

But the bad news is that it’s not looking good for the Adare Manor owner and his friends as they attempt to maintain one of Irish golf’s great institutions.

Dubbed the People’s Open because of its popular appeal, the Irish Open lost title sponsor Murphy’s this year and no replacement has yet been found.

“Right now I don’t think there is more than a 50-50 chance of having an Irish Open,” said Kane. “If we don’t get sponsorship we won’t have an Irish Open. It’s very serious.”

The event has already lost its traditional date of the last week in June to the Novotel Perrier Open de France.

And with the news from the European Tour that the tournament must be played in late July or early August if at all, (the week after the British Open or the week before the USPGA) hopes of attracting a top sponsor are fading fast.

“We are trying to put something together with a consortium clubs,” revealed Kane. “We’ve had discussions with a number of other clubs which would establish a rota along with ourselves. We would make a financial commitment along with Bord Failte and now we are trying to find supporting sponsors.

“Nobody has risen to the occasion yet so there is nothing to report. We are working away at it and the Tour is aware of that.”

But the difficulty is finding a series of sponsors that would be willing to fork out the €2.5 million euro it would cost to stage the championship.

Adare Manor is keen to get an Irish Open course rota that would include several former venues.

Fota Island, Mount Juliet and Druids Glen are all understood to be interested in hosting on of the traditionally strong tournaments on the tour.

Each would be asked to come up with over €500,000 over four years to help share the burden of sponsorship with a title sponsor.

Adare Manor is ideally suited to the task with acres of space for a tented village and excellent roads.

The Limerick venue successfully hosted the AIB Irish Seniors Open this season and the tournament will take place again next year.

But the vacuum created by the loss of Murphy’s as a sponsor means that the tournament has lost its traditional date on the European Tour calendar.

Explained Kane: “The traditional date is gone. The two choices we have are the week after the British Open or the week before the US PGA.”

Those dates make it more difficult to put together an attractive field, one of the problems encountered by Murphy’s in the final years of their sponsorship.

“We looking for four sponsors, at half a million euros a piece for a period of four or five years,” revealed Kane.

But despite Kane’s pessimism, the Irish Tourist Board remains confident that with the Ryder Cup just four years away, the future is looking good for Irish golf.

Ireland has hosted eight major golf events this season - including the Seve Trophy, the Smurfit European Open and the American Express Championship.

They have boosted Ireland’s profile as a golf destination worldwide in a major coup for Bord Failte, the Irish Tourist Board and the profile of Ireland as a Ryder Cup venue in 2006.

“Last year we took in 250,000 golfers which was worth about €130 million for the exchequer,” revealed Bord Failte’s director of golf, Damian Ryan. “We have had marvellous coverage all over the world since the Amex and the Ryder Cup.”

However, Ryan admits that there is still a big problem with the Irish Open.

“As yet, there is no major sponsor for the Irish Open. The situation is that there are companies at present looking and trying to negotiate with major sponsors but so far I have to stress that the situation is that no deals have been done yet.

“We hope to have something in place around the end of October or mid-November. But I would be very, very concerned and disappointed if there wasn’t an Irish Open.

“If there is no sponsor in place, I don’t know. We are going into the unknown there. There will be an Irish Open but what level the sponsorship will be, we don’t know yet”

Ryan added: “Overall this year has been an outstanding success for the publicity and promotion of Irish golf and we hope to reap the benefits of this for the European and worldwide markets though the tremendous coverage we have got overseas.”

At least if the top pros don’t come to Ireland next year, cash rich tourists will keep the top courses in clover.

(Darcy)
Big Eamonn Darcy agrees that he will be out of touch when the Ryder Cup comes top the K Club in 2006.

But the Delgany man feels that it shouldn’t make any difference despite the fact Ireland’s candidates will be a combined 164 years old!

Darcy will be 54 in 2006 while Des Smyth will be 53 and Christy O’Connor Jnr 57.

“Tony Jacklin wasn’t on the tour in 1987 but he was a great captain,” said Darcy. “Guys like Tony could relate to a player. We’ve all been players, we know the score. In the end it is the players who have to do it themselves.”

Both Sam Torrance and former skipper Mark James feel that golfers who are no longer on the main tour will be out of touch with the players.

That’s why Torrance is backing Ian Woosnam for the captaincy in 2004 instead of making the Welshman wait until he event reaches Celtic Manor when he will be in his early 50s.

There is also growing support in the UK for Colin Montgomerie to skipper Europe at the K Club if he is not playing in four years time.

Both O’Connor and Darcy are already on the Seniors Tour while Smyth will be eligible next April.

Darcy added: “Sure it would be better if we were nearer the end of our careers on the main tour in 2006. But if they are serious about this criteria it is something they can overcome by allowing the captain and vice captain to play half the schedule on the main tour and half on the seniors so that they could stay more in touch with the players.”

(Padraig)
Padraig Harrington has admitted that Europe’s Ryder Cup win at the Belfry will take some beating – even if he grabs a Major some day.

In his diary on his official website - www.padraigharrington.com - he wrote: “I don’t think that the feeling of winning a Ryder Cup could ever be replicated – even if I were to win a Major in the future – it was that special.”

Harrington also reveals how he was prepared to put up with making his swing faults worse if it meant winning points.

“I was determined to play ugly if I had to – winning points is all that matters in the Ryder Cup.”

(Carton)
Carton House have ruled themselves out of the running to host next year’s Irish Open – if there is one.

The complex boasts two championship courses – the Mark O'Meara Golf Course and the Colin Montgomerie Golf Course.

A spokesman said: “We are keen to attract a major event but not in 2003.”

(Portmarnock)
Tiger Woods won’t drive the first hole the next time he visits Portmanock.

The famous north Dublin links has called in architect Martin Hawtree to realign the fairway and narrow the green at the 388-yard par four opening hole.

The legendary club is also set to spend almost €5 million euro renovating its clubhouse.

Members will enjoy a new entrance, panoramic views of the course and an extra 6,000 sq feet of space.

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© Brian Keogh 2002

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