Pádraig Harrington, Shane Lowry and Séamus Power are among the home-grown stars on. show at Mount Juliet Estate for the Horizon Irish Open, which gets under way tomorrow (June 30).
The trio will be backed by Irish golf fans in their thousands, with a sold-out weekend and only a limited number of tickets remaining for the first two days, as all three players return to compete on home soil for the first time this year.
Harrington, the 2007 winner of this event, arrives in County Kilkenny having secured his maiden Senior Major title at last week’s US Senior Open at Saucon Valley, where he earned a one-stroke victory over fellow former Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker.
Power, the world no36, returns to his home Open for the first time in three years and the first time since becoming a PGA Tour winner at the 2021 Barbasol Championship in Kentucky.
The highest-ranked player in the field at Mount Juliet is 2019 Open Champion Lowry, who currently occupies 24th on the Official World Golf Ranking, and arrives home off the back of an excellent run of form during which he has missed only one cut in 2022.
Australia’s Lucas Herbert will defend the title he won in wire-to-wire fashion at Mount Juliet last year, while Rolex Series winners Tyrrell Hatton, Thomas Pieters, Aaron Rai and Min Woo Lee will also tee it up this week.
Harrington said: “It’s great to be back after a win. It’s a nice atmosphere, with people congratulating me and I’m sure it will be like that for the rest of the week. I think Mount Juliet lends itself to a great event, and with the crowds coming in, there should be a great buzz. Whoever wins here or gets themselves in contention this week will know all about it. I’m looking forward to it.
Lowry added: “It’s always great to come back to this event. It’s a tournament that is close to my heart, and I owe a lot to it for where I am in the game with the start that I had with the Irish Open in 2009 and it gave me the kick start to my career that I really needed.
“I’m playing some good golf at the moment, and I’m just excited for the week ahead, and I’m very hopeful that I put in a good performance. I’d love myself to be the Irishman to do well. It would be great myself, Padraig and Seamus were all up there on Sunday afternoon, and one of us won it. It would be great for the tournament and it’d be great for golf if that was the case.”