PGA seeks sponsor and venue for Championship
THE PGA in Ireland is seeking a new venue and sponsor for the Irish Professional Championship.
In February 2016, the PGA and Moyvalley Hotel & Golf Resort announced a three-year title sponsorship and host venue agreement to run until 2018.
But the Co Kildare resort has opted not to take up the third year of that deal as it is extending its hotel by adding 27 rooms, a swimming pool and a spa.
The PGA in Ireland has left gaps in its schedule with three potential dates reserved for the Irish Professional Championship, which was won last year by Limerick’s Tim Rice.
The second and fourth weeks of September or the first week in October are the preferred dates, though the latter would also clash with the European Challenge Tour’s staging of the Irish Challenge, which is also seeking a new venue and sponsor.
As for the inaugural, 36-hole qualifier for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open from June 30 to July 1, only the venue remains to be confirmed by the European Tour.
The 36-hole strokeplay tournament will offer a prize fund of €40,000 with the leading four players qualifying to tee it up in what will be a $7m Rolex Series event at Ballyliffin’s Glashedy Links from July 5-8.
The qualifier, which replicates the format used for the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open since 2015, means PGA in Ireland professionals are no longer awarded Irish Open places via the previous season’s domestic Order of Merit.
The field of around 130 will feature up to six leading amateurs nominated by the GUI.