Faldo Series to stage two Irish events in 2018
THE Faldo Series returns to the island of Ireland this year with two summer dates and valuable World Ranking points up for grabs.
The Faldo Series Northern Ireland Championship will welcome a strong field of young golfers to the Lough Erne Resort from July 18-20 for the 11th Faldo Series event to be hosted in County Fermanagh.
Then later that month, the first Faldo Series Ireland Championship in the Republic of Ireland will be played at Mount Juliet from July 30 to August 1 – a venue with happy memories for six-time major winner Faldo, who completed his hat-trick of Irish Open wins at the stunning Kilkenny parkland course in 1993.
Not surprisingly, the Englishman had a special affection for Irish golf having played in the Home Internationals at Portmarnock in his youth.
“There is something about this country – nobody dies of ulcers here,” he said at Mount Juliet in 1993.
“I think my success here has a lot to do with the quality of the Irish Open courses. They are more difficult than many of those we play on the European Tour and that tends to give me an edge.”
“We were determined to make sure the tournament was World Ranking this year and to do that, we opted to make it a three-day event,” said Lough Erne Director of Golf, Lynn McCool.
“Now that it is a world ranking event, we are expecting to receive even more interest so prospective participants should get their entries in soon.”
This year’s Northern Ireland Championship will be played over three rounds on the Faldo Course at Lough Erne.
The field will be divided into five age-groups – three for boys and two for girls – and the winners of each division will again join Sir Nick Faldo at the season-ending Faldo Series Grand Final.
Sir Nick Faldo created the Faldo Series in 1996 to give an opportunity to young people through golf and to help identify and nurture the next generation of champions.
Supported by golf’s governing bodies, 40 annual tournaments now take place in 30 countries worldwide.
Competitors aged 12 to 21 can now enter the Faldo Series with places in the Faldo Series Grand Final awaiting the age group winners.
To enter the Faldo Series go to www. faldoseries.com.