Lahinch tuning up for Irish Open roar
ARE-ROUTING of the Lahinch layout is on the cards for the 2019 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. Sportsmail understands the course’s third hole is likely to be played as the first for the $7m Rolex Series event and the par-five second as the 18th to allow for grandstands and European Tour trappings.
As tournament host, Paul McGinley worked in tandem with the club and the local community to convince the European Tour hierarchy that Lahinch, despite its remoteness on the Atlantic seaboard, could deliver a memorable 91st Irish Open on July 4-7 next year.
While Portmarnock Links was also in the mix, McGinley had his heart set on breaking new ground at Lahinch, and bringing the Irish Open south, two weeks before The Open championship at Royal Portrush on the Antrim coast.
‘The Open will take people from Dublin to the north, so I was very keen to go down south with the Irish Open and to look at venues down there, especially links venues,’ said McGinley yesterday.
The 2014 European Ryder Cup captain believes Lahinch will provide a unique confrontation for the sport’s elite players.
‘It’s not old-fashioned like Troon or St Andrews, where you go in the one direction for nine holes out and the other coming back.
‘The holes at Lahinch run in a variety of ways, and the green complexes are challenging and will test players’ creativity.
‘It’s a terrific combination of skill, nerve and links golf. We want it breezy next summer, not too windy and no umbrellas, please,’ he quipped.
Apart from the order of the holes, McGinley was faced with traffic issues to and from the seaside resort, and the monitoring of access points to the links from the beach.
A meticulous planner, McGinley got everyone on board and presented his plan which the European Tour have approved, although he is not finished yet and ‘has a number of ideas to add a Festival feel to the week’.
This was will be the first Irish Open on a links course in the south-west since Ballybunion in 2000 — when Swede Patrik Sjoland won with a score of 14 under par — and the first to be played in County Clare.
If the wind blows, the combination of dunes, bumps and hollows, and contours of greens, some of which are quite exposed, will make scoring difficult.
Should it stay calm and sunny, the defences of Lahinch will be far less demanding and it remains to be seen if the par of 72 is trimmed — three of the par fives are readily reachable in two.
Originally laid out by Old Tom Morris, Lahinch was refined by Alister MacKenzie, the designer of Augusta, who created 18 holes on the seaside side of the Lahinch to Liscannor road.
Some 20 years ago, English architect Martin Hawtree restored the original undulating greens and created two outstanding short holes in the high dunes, the 8th and 11th.
Hawtree also fine-tuned and greatly improved four existing h o l e s . C r u c i a l l y, t h e i c o n i c Klondyke and Dell holes, where the golfer faces blind approach shots to the green, were left untouched by the Englishman.
Lahinch has hosted the South of Ireland Amateur Championship annually since 1895 and its role of honour includes McGinley (1991), Darren Clarke (1989) and Graeme McDowell (2000) — the latter two have agreed to host future Irish Opens.
In 2019, Lahinch will also stage the Home Internationals for the first time since 1987 when Ireland were the winners. McGinley wasn’t on the Irish team but when he won the ‘South’ four years later, it secured selection for the Walker Cup team, from where he had the platform to turn pro.
He has never forgotten Lahinch where ‘the sea shines like a jewel’, as Percy French famously penned.