THEIR ROR IS ALWAYS OPEN

Horizons are expanding in Irish golf & Mcilroy will be given more time to decide if he’ll play this year

THE Horizon Irish Open’s future has been secured with an investment of €50m over the next six years but Rory Mcilroy remains unlikely to participate at Mount Juliet this summer.

Mcilroy won the Irish Open in a thrilling finale when the tournament was last at the K Club in 2016.

After yesterday’s announcement that the Straffan venue will host the tournament in three of the next five years, the 32-year-old is expected to return for the 2023 staging in Kildare.

But Mcilroy, who finished tied-59th at Mount Juliet last year, has a busy schedule running up to The Open at St Andrews, suggesting the

Kilkenny venue will miss out.

However tournament chiefs are hopeful that they will hook some big PGA Tour names for the June 30-July 3 event that finishes the day before JP Mcmanus’ Pro-am starts at Adare Manor and less than a fortnight before The Open.

“It’s fantastic timing,” said Ireland’s rising

PGA Tour star Seamus

Power.

“I love the idea of this summer, coming home to play the Irish Open, having a couple of days off.

“This is going to vary from player to player but, in general, two weeks before The Open is a great date.”

Speaking at the announcement that Horizon will back the Irish Open for the next six years, championship director Simon Alliss (inset) admitted: “It’s like a dating event at the moment.

“It’s like trying to get the prom queen – we offer them as much as we can and try to make it as enticing as possible, but these guys will do what they want when they’re working out their schedule.

“So much will depend on their plans running into the Open Championship.

“We’re optimistic and we’re trying our best but I would definitely not stick my neck out and say anything definitive just yet.”

In terms of Mcilroy’s plans, Alliss added: “Rory, along with all these guys, they’re working their schedules all the time.

“We don’t push them too hard to make a decision because it can change very quickly.

“You’ve got the Irish Open coming up, then JP’S event, then the Scottish and then The Open.

“All that will be in the mix. If Rory says he’s coming along he’ll be very welcome, we all remember what happened here in 2016 so we’ll wait and see.

“We haven’t actually engaged with him apart from saying we’d like to discuss it with him, so that’s it.”

Horizon’s announcement is a massive boost to the tournament that Mcilroy did so much to revive when he became the Irish Open’s host for four years from 2015.

The prize money this year is €6m – up over 70 per cent on 2020.