Chill autumn winds arrived with hasty gusto this week at Royal County Down and braced the field for the possibility of a survival test over the next few days on a scale of the brutally attritional edition of the Irish Open in 2015.
Nine years ago, a mere five players finished under par around this revered world-class links course, with the eventual three man play-off at two under seeing the feisty Dane Soren Kjeldsen outlasting a star-studded field that included the likes of Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia and then reigning US Open champion Martin Kaymer, who all failed to make the cut.
The mixed weather forecast over the next few days, with wind being a major factor, could see level par as a reasonable target for those who move into contention on Sunday.
However, Padraig Harrington, playing in his 29th Irish Open at 53 years of age, believes the Tour will set up the course to compensate for the conditions.
“It’s a lot easier to set a difficult golf course easy than an easy golf course difficult,” he commented yesterday, with the wind buffeting around him during the preview interviews.
“There’s a percentage of the field which just will not get to grips with this. It’s pretty harrowing out there at this very moment,” he quipped.
In truth, while Harrington is a long-shot outsider, he pinpointed one of the keys to challenging in the conditions which are forecast to vary on each of the four days, with wind being a major factor on at least three of them.
“It isn’t going to be the guy who necessarily swings the club well this week, it’s the guy who is mentally the strongest out there, who makes the right decisions, stays as upbeat as he can, so you’ve got to just get your head in the game, moreso than any other week.”
McIlroy, playing in his home county and on a course he loves and knows well, will carry the mantle of favourite this week as the highest ranked player in the field.
However, no one knows more than the world number three that major tournaments in Northern Ireland have not been kind to him in recent years, with a missed cut at the Open in 2019 at Royal Portrush to go alongside his Irish Open missed cut at Royal County Down nine years ago.
“I’ve had to learn how to manage my week when I come home. I’m trying so hard to perform in front of the home fans but then if I push too hard then it’s detrimental to my own game, so I think it’s just trying to manage all of those emotions, not trying to do anything that I wouldn’t normally do, not get too frustrated if things aren’t going my way and if I can do that, I think I’ll be OK,” he said on Wednesday.
McIlroy could do with a lift in his fortunes after three months and six tournament appearances since his crushing US Open disappointment, one of which was a near miss in the Olympic golf competition, where he was just two shots off the winning total.
“It would mean a lot and would go a long way as some sort of tonic for what has happened. It’s been a long year and I’m just trying to focus on here and next week at Wentworth and focus on a push towards the end of the season.”
“I’m feeling pretty good and have played well in practice here so I just have to relax and enjoy myself out there,” he concluded.
Shane Lowry made the cut in the Irish Open in 2015 but along the way to making the weekend back then was a putter broken in frustration.
“I’m nine years older now and I’d like to think I’m a lot more mature,” he said on Wednesday before adding: “This is a big test of patience.”
“This week is going to be about the misses and missing in the right place and try to just manage your way around the course pretty well because I think it’s not going to be about your good shots. It’s going to be about your bad shots and making sure they are not too bad and don’t get you in too much trouble,” he added.
Among the other Irish involved is Seamus Power, who made it to the first week of the Fedex Cup Playoffs at the St Jude Classic last month, where he enjoyed his best tournament finish of the year – a tie for 10th place.
After only recovering fully in late spring from nearly six months of trouble with a hip injury which forced him to miss last year’s Irish Open, Power is closing in on breaking back into the world’s top 100.
“This is the best year of my ball-striking since I’ve been a pro. You will need that this week if it’s going to blow and I’ve always had a good short game, which I think you’re going to need because I don’t care how well you hit it, you’re going to have to get up-and-down,” he said.
“I think this course is good for me but I haven’t played as much links golf as I did when I was younger. I feel like I’m learning and relearning pretty quickly but obviously the truth is going to be told in the next few days,” he added.
Ireland has five other professionals involved this week, Conor Purcell, Gary Hurley, Simon Thornton, Mark Power and Tom McKibbin, with the latter lying 17th in the Race to Dubai and who will partner fellow Holywood clubman McIlroy over the first two rounds.
McKibbin is lying 12th in the race to seal one of 10 PGA Tour qualification spots via the European Order of Merit. A good week at Royal County Down and next week in Wentworth could secure that long-held goal of his.
“From now to the end of the year, the points have gotten so much bigger that I think there will be a lot of back and forward between everyone. So obviously I want to push on to the end of the year and try and get one of those spots,” he said on Tuesday.
Completing the Irish contingent will be two very promising young amateurs in Max Kennedy and 17-year-old Sean Keeling.
Among the leading non-Irish professionals in the field are two of the most improved European players in 2024 – world number 16 Bob McIntyre from Scotland and England’s world number 22 Aaron Rai, who between them have won three times in the last four months on the PGA Tour.
Watch the Irish Open on Thursday from 12.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, 7.55am on Friday and 12.30pm on Saturday and Sunday.