This week it's the halfway stage of the European Tour’s Rolex Series as the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open takes centre stage on the calendar. The tournament is hosted by Ballyliffin Golf Club for the first time and the pure Glashedy Links course promises to challenge the strong field from start-to-finish as players look to fine-tune their games ahead of the Open Championship in two week’s time.
Below we pluck out three pairings to keep an eye out at the Irish Open:
Matthew Fitzpatrick, Thorbjorn Olesen, Rory McIlroy
Former Irish Open winner Rory McIlroy tees off at 1.20pm alongside Matthew Fitzpatrick and Thorbjorn Olesen at Ballyliffin Golf Club. McIlroy, who hosts the tournament, has been very hit or miss this year, but roared on by a passionate Irish support the 2016 winner will be determined to put smiles on faces at the Ballyliffin Golf Club. The crowd favourite heads into his home event as the 13/2 favourite to make it two wins in his last three appearances in the event.
Fitzpatrick features in the cluster of names behind joint-favourites McIlroy and Jon Rahm. The Englishman has four top-30 finishes from his last four events including an 8th place showing at the BMW PGA Championship, and is sure to push playing partner McIlroy all the way during the opening two rounds.
Meanwhile, with Olesen (25/1) you never know what you’re going to get. His success at the Italian Open was followed by a missed cut, a 2nd at the BMW International Open, and then another missed cut. So if he carries on that trend he should be right up there this week!
Graeme McDowell, Jon Rahm, Rafa Cabrera Bello
Defending Irish Open champion Jon Rahm is joined by Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell and three-time European Tour winner Rafa Cabrera Bello in what promises to be a must-watch grouping on Thursday morning (8.20am).
Last year Rahm bagged his second professional win as a professional - and first on the European Tour - after roaring to a 24 under par, six shot victory at Portstewart. The Spaniard returns looking to become the first multiple winner since Colin Montgomerie (1996, 1997 and 2001), and the world number five is a best-priced 15/2 to achieve this feat and add another Rolex Series win to his collection.
Fellow countryman Cabrera Bello will be hoping to become the fifth Spanish player to taste success at the Irish Open. The 2017 Scottish Open winner, which is a Rolex Series event, is a 20/1 shot for the triumph, while Ryder Cup vice-captain McDowell it out at 50/1.
Shane Lowry, Lee Westwood, Thomas Pieters
Shane Lowry was the 2009 Irish Open victor as an amateur and the Irishman, who is one of three home winners in the last 11 years, has had this to say prior to the 2018 edition of the tournament:
“It will always have a special place in my heart for obvious reasons. It launched my career when I won it as an amateur and I would love nothing more than to win it again as a pro. It’s one of those weeks on tour that you have to adapt to. For most of the Irish lads, you need to treat it like a massive event because you have so much on so you actually need to prepare differently to most other weeks.”
Lowry will be joined by Belgian Thomas Pieters who will both be looking to impress ahead of September’s Ryder Cup. Pieters was part of the 2016 Ryder Cup team and secured a place via a captain's pick following a decent run of form in the build-up to the Minnesota spectacle, and the 40/1 shot for Irish Open glory will hope he can hit some form this summer.
Meanwhile, Ryder Cup vice-captain Lee Westwood is hovering around the 55/1 shot to end four years of hurt and win his first European Tour event since the 2014 Malaysian Open.
Tee Times
Hole 1
0730 Ashun Wu, Mark Foster, Pedro Oriol
0740 Jens Dantorp, David Drysdale, James Morrison
0750 Henric Sturehed, Gregory Havret, Chris Hanson
0800 Ashley Chesters, Adrien Saddier, Phachara Khongwatmai
0810 Andrea Pavan, Benjamin Hebert, Matthew Baldwin
0820 Robert Rock, Laurie Canter, David Horsey
0830 Stephen Gallacher, Jason Scrivener, Oliver Fisher
0840 Steven Brown, Nino Bertasio, Marcus Fraser
0850 Scott Hend, Peter Hanson, Matthieu Pavon
0900 Jacques Kruyswijk, Brandon Stone (Rsa), Soomin Lee
0910 Sam Horsfield, Wade Ormsby, Ricardo Gouveia
0920 Nico Geyger, Charlie Ford, Renato Paratore
0930 Jason Norris, Ruaidhri McGee, Marc Warren
1230 Richard Stern, Paul Waring, Marcel Siem
1240 Pablo Larrazabal, Thomas Detr, Lee Slattery
1250 Gavin Moynihan, Austin Connelly, Dean Burmester
1300 Haotong Li, Peter Uihlein, Julian Suri
1310 Paul Dunne, Matt Wallace, Alexander Levy
1320 Matthew Fitzpatrick, Rory McIlroy, Thorbjorn Olesen
1330 Lee Westwood, Shane Lowry, Thomas Pieters
1340 Robert Karlsson, Russell Knox, Alexander Bjork
1350 Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke, Danny Willett
1400 Paul McGinley, Thongchai Jaidee, David Howell
1410 S.S.P Chawrasia, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, George Coetzee
1420 Hideto Tanihara, Richie Ramsay, Scott Fernandez
1430 Raphael Jacquelin, Zander Lombard, Felipe Aguilar
Hole 10
0730 Fabrizio Zanotti, Ryan Evans, Marcus Kinhult
0740 Brett Rumford, Scott Jamieson, Matthew Southgate
0750 Jorge Campillo, Nicolas Colsaerts, Ryan Fox
0800 Adrian Otaegui, Mikko Ilone, Yusaku Miyazato
0810 Andy Sullivan, Mikko Korhone, Dylan Frittell
0820 Graeme McDowell, Jon Rahm, Rafael Cabrera-Bello
0830 Padraig Harrington, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Chris Wood
0840 Lucas Bjerregaard, Eddie Pepperell, Jamie Donaldson
0850 Jordan Smith, Shubhankar Sharma, Soren Kjeldsen
0900 Jin-ho Choi, Tapio Pulkkanen, Carlos Pigem
0910 Alvaro Quiros, Edoardo Molinari, Erik Van Rooyen
0920 Cian McNamara, Simon Thornton, Bradley Neil
0930 Gavin Green, Mike Lorenzo-Vera, David Lipsky
1230 Sebastien Gros, Daniel Brooks, Cormac Sharvin
1240 Oliver Farr, Neil O'Briain, Jeff Winther
1250 Richard Bland, Joakim Lagergren, Andrew Dod
1300 Andres Romero, Gregory Bourdy, Jeunghun Wang
1310 Lasse Jensen, Chris Paisley, Romain Wattel
1320 Matthew Nixon, Nacho Elvira, Darren Fichardt
1330 Thomas Aiken, Matteo Manassero, Bradley Dredge
1340 Trevor Immelman, Daniel Im, Justin Walters
1350 Connor Syme, Adam Bland, Callum Shinkwin
1400 Sam Braze, Clement Sordet, Colm Moriarty
1410 Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Rak hyun Cho, Haydn Porteous
1420 Julien Guerrier, Chase Koepka, Matthias Schwa
1430 Lorenzo Gagli, Aaron Rai, Maximilian Kieffe
