Just 11 days after Scottie Scheffler made off with the riches at the Tour Championship, the PGA Tour cranks up again this week with the start of the Fall Series in California’s Napa Valley.
Meanwhile, the LIV Golf series is hosting the last regulation competition of the season in Chicago, and the prestigious Solheim Cup will take place in Virginia from Friday, with Cavan’s Leona Maguire likely to be a key figure for Europe for a third successive renewal.
All of those events will have some appeal for the golf purist – particularly the latter – but my focus will be closer to home over the coming days as the Irish Open returns to what it should really be, a links event played on one of the best seaside courses in the world.
For a variety of reasons it has been five years since the Irish Open was held on a traditional Irish course, when Jon Rahm won it for the second time in three seasons at Lahinch in Co Clare.
That came a fortnight before Shane Lowry brought the house down at the Open Championship in Portrush, where the battle for the Claret Jug will take place again next July.
Royal County Down may not be on the Open rota, but it will this week take its turn in the sun – and rain and wind – as Lowry lines up alongside local boy Rory McIlroy as the star turns in their national event.
The forecast in mixed for the four days of competition, but it will be nothing like as bad as the last time the tour visited Newcastle in 2015, when Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen held off Eddie Pepperell and Bernd Wiesberger in a play-off after the trio finished at two-under for the week.
The scoring will be a fair bit better this time, although a strong test awaits a very decent DP World Tour field, with recent PGA Tour winners Aaron Rai and Robert MacIntyre joining McIlroy and Lowry, as well as rising star Tom McKibbin, Ryder Cup hero Nicolai Hojgaard and Irish legend Padraig Harrington.
Royal County Down is a quirky test with loads of blind shots, set against the beautiful backdrop of the Mourne mountains, and while course form is limited, a proven links pedigree and an ability to play in the breeze will be required to go well.
As a former Open champion and the 2023 Scottish Open winner, McIlroy has that pedigree, and he will be keen to give the galleries the winner they want, although he might just be on the tight side at no bigger than 6/1 given his record when teeing it up so close to home.
The world number three shot an opening round of 80 here nine years ago and missed the cut as the official host, as he did two years later at Portstewart.
He also had the weekend off at Portrush in 2019, while his last links outing ended after 36 holes at Royal Troon in July.
McIlroy’s form has been fine since then, if nothing spectacular, and his followers will hope a more low-key build-up might just aid him now.
Lowry has all the links credentials you could ask for, going way back to winning this as an amateur in the wind and rain of Co Louth 15 years ago, and he could easily have added a second Open title just a couple of months ago, so he will have fans at 12/1.
Rai is next in the betting at 14/1 and was second in this event at Galgorm in 2020, as well as winning the Scottish Open the same year, but it is the current Scottish champion – MacIntyre – who makes by far the most appeal of those at the head of the betting.
No player has won the Scottish and Irish titles in the same season, but a return to links terrain gives the world number 16 a big chance of doing just that as he seeks a third big victory of a stellar season.
Having won his PGA Tour card through the DP World Tour at the end of 2023, MacIntyre could never have dreamt of the year he’s had, winning the Canadian Open as well as his home title and going all the way to the Tour Championship.
He finished with a round of 64 at East Lake to show he’s still in fine touch, and was seventh in the first FedEx Cup play-off in Memphis prior to that.
Stepping down in grade a little, the left-hander should feel right at home and he has all the shots for links golf, as shown by finishing in the top two of the last couple of Scottish Opens, as well as sixth in the 2019 Open at Portrush and eighth at Royal St George’s two years later.
With every type of weather due to hit Newcastle at some stage, MacIntyre looks a fine bet at 18/1 and is crying out to be backed.
Fox might find return to Ireland fantastic
Ryan Fox hasn’t had as much success on the PGA Tour as MacIntyre this term, sitting at 106th in the standings, but he comes alive on the DP World Tour at this time of year and relishes any trip to Ireland.
The Kiwi won on the Challenge Tour in 2016 at Galgorm and has been a factor nearly every time he has visited these shores since.
Fourth in the Irish Open at Portstewart in 2017, he was beaten in a play-off by Russell Knox at Ballyliffin the following year, then finished 16th in the 2019 Open Championship before being second and third in the last two renewals of this event, at Mount Juliet and the K Club.
We have been on him in both 2022 and 2023 as first Adrian Meronk and then Vincent Norrman denied him, so we can’t give up on Fox, who has been first and second in the last two Alfred Dunhill Links Championships and can bounce back to form in more comfortable DP World Tour surroundings.
He has to be backed at 33/1, while at the same price Thriston Lawrence is also one for the short-list.
The in-form South African has played loads of blustery seaside courses in his homeland, which stood him in good stead as he finished a fine fourth at Troon in July, one of the main reasons he has climbed to second in the Race to Dubai standings to be almost certain of one of the 10 coveted PGA Tour cards on offer for 2025.
Since Troon, Lawrence has won a Sunshine Tour event at home before finishing second in the British Masters at The Belfry, so his form is rock-solid, and he has loads of links pedigree going back as far as winning the Lytham Trophy a decade ago, while he’s been third in the last two Irish Opens so likes these shores.
Jorge Campillo also loves Ireland, especially the coast, and he is one to consider at a bigger price after he signed off with a 64 in Switzerland on Sunday.
That underlined the impression the crafty Spaniard is getting back to his best, having finished sixth at the British Masters the week before.
A straight hitter with a good short game, Campillo was third at Ballyliffin in 2018 and seventh at Lahinch a year later, as well as seventh at the K Club last year, while he has a brilliant record in the Qatar Masters, one of the windiest events of the season.
He won in Doha in 2020, has been second twice and was fifth earlier this term, so the gusts won’t bother him, while he will also be happy to be back in Europe after a tough time in the States.
Campillo is worth backing at 66/1 with Ladbrokes, while the Qatar form also makes Rikuya Hoshino of interest at 80s.
The Japanese player is eighth on the Race to Dubai and on the cusp of a PGA Tour card after winning in Doha earlier this season to back up two runner-up efforts in Australia before Christmas, when he was right at home in blustery, links-type conditions.
After a quiet spell, Hoshino tied for eighth in Switzerland thanks to a closing 65, while was seventh at the K Club on his first visit to Ireland last term.
He is well worth considering at a big price to be the first Asian winner in the history of the Irish Open, with much of that storied history written on links courses around this island.
AMGEN IRISH OPEN SELECTIONS
Robert MacIntyre, e/w, 18/1 (Paddy Power, eight places);
Ryan Fox, e/w, 33/1 (Paddy Power);
Thriston Lawrence, e/w, 33/1 (Boylesports, eight places);
Jorge Campillo, e/w, 66/1 (Ladbrokes, 10 places);
Rikuya Hoshino, e/w, 80/1 (Paddy Power)
