Horan’s tournament hits all the right notes
GOLF may be going in One Direction — but pop star Niall Horan reckons he can change that. The Mullingar singer reckons if he can persuade ‘one or two per cent’ of his mostly female 41 million Twitter followers into golf ‘it will be a game changer’ for a sport that has global appeal. ‘We’ve got to move the needle as much as we can and get more women into golf,’ said the singer. Yesterday he teed off the countdown to a unique event in world golf, the ISPS Handa World Invitational at Galgorm, outside Belfast on July 28-31, which is being presented by Horan’s management company, Modest! Golf. ‘I’m happy we waited another year as we’ve all the Tours involved. ‘It’s going to be a brilliant week. Golf on the island is getting stronger,’ said Horan, who plays off a six handicap. The tournament, which takes place two weeks after the Open at Royal St George’s, is sanctioned by the European Tour, LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour, a first for the northern hemisphere. A field of 288 players, 144 men and 144 women, will participate in the 72-hole stroke-play event with the women’s field split equally between the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour. The €2million purse will also be split even between the men and women. The tournament will carry points towards Ryder Cup participation, while the women’s tournament will also count for Solheim Cup points. Galgorm Castle and Massereene will be used over the first two days before a halfway cut reduces the field to the top 60 professionals in the men’s and women’s draws.
The third round will take place at Galgorm Castle before a further 54-hole cut takes place with the top 35 and ties from the men’s and women’s draws advancing to the final round. Tournament golf has been played at Galgorm for over a decade with the first Northern Ireland Open hosted at the Ballymena venue in 2010, while the Antrim venue hosted the 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, won by American John Catlin. Euro Tour chief Keith Pelley said the event was about ‘inclusivity’ and expressed confidence that spectators would be allowed access.