The HORIZON Irish Open

TheRiverman

Come on Shane, making the cut is on.

TheRiverman

What a wonderful finish, four birdies in row 👏👏👏👏

Leftwaffe

Heading tomorrow myself. Have never been at a golf event. Do most just follow one group around? Any tips in what to bring etc?

Will be driving down, how easy is the park and ride?

Mr. Guappa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119277926#Comment_119277926

Park and Ride is very well done. No waiting or queuing when we rocked on at 8.30 today and left at around 5. 5 minute trip on the bus which drops you off by the first green.

The Lowry and Harrington groups had massive followings today so it's very hard to see much with those, although the atmosphere is good. We got 3 or 4 holes ahead of them once or twice, then parked up in a good spot until they came through. Followed the Rai group for a while as well, all 3 were playing well and had a decent following without being massive. Enjoyable day, despite the bad spell of weather.

paul321123

Was there yesterday, park and ride is well run, no waiting time and is only and few minutes from the course, some great gold and fantastic to see these guys up close. Normally pick up a cap but there was none available which was very disappointing, was told they were caught up in customs but not sure about that, was told they would have them today but was only going to be there one day so maybe next year. So anyone going over the weekend, I would recommend umbrella and if you have golf shoes bring them with you as it is supposed to be raining on and off and they will be better on the damp grass.

boardise

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119277926#Comment_119277926

Pair of binoculars a sine qua non.😎

big_drive

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119277926#Comment_119277926

I mixed it up, followed some groups for a few holes. Then stayed greenside watching a few groups approach shots in.

Worth heading down to the range and putting green watching players warm up

Bring a back pack for carrying jacket, food, etc

Bring some food, drinks , etc. Everything in there is overpriced plus there can be queues

Wear good suitable footwear

Park and ride well organized, hassle free

sparkle109

I’ve two general access tickets for today- pm if anyone wants them

thelankylad

if anyone has 2 spare tickets for tomorrow i would greatly appreciate it. Feel free to pm.

sligeach

I think I've had enough of watching the golf. Keep waiting for Power to make a move, but it's not happening. It's the opposite, he's scrambling very often to make par. He's falling further behind and going to make a bogey here. No birdies, 2 bogies after 10 holes. It's not as interesting if there's no Irish in contention.

El festino

Not sure if the right place to do this..

But was meant to be going tomorrow and can't now. I have two tickets available if anyone you know would be interested. Face value ono

NotCarrotRidge

Enjoyed today. Didn't really follow anyone, rather moved between a few holes and watched people coming in. I was at one of the shorter par 4s where they were using lob wedges mainly and the spin they got was just unreal. I saw a few birdies and an eagle, so I enjoyed my day!

Paddy Houlihan

Has anyone a spare juvenile ticket for today?

kieran.

I had 2 spares yesterday offered them the person scanning the tickets at the gate and she said they were just letting kids on in.

Mushy

Fair play to Meronk, can't go wrong with -4 in the last 4 to grab it with both hands.

Motivator

A fantastic couple of days golf in Mount Juliet, very well organised on a course that probably isn’t suitable to hold such crowds but I think they did things very well.

For those complaining about the Irish Open not being held on a links course, today I spent time in the company of the director of golf at one of the big links courses and the question was asked why they didn’t put their name forward to host the event in the coming years.

Firstly, the European Tour assess potential and possible venues and look at everything from transport to accomodation and everything else in between. A course that is fit for purpose then need to decide if they wish to have their name put forward to host an event if they’re chosen. What was said to me today is that the bottom line is links courses don’t want to host any big events. It’s not like they get a big pot of gold at the end of it. The members don’t want it and the courses themselves don’t want it. From what I gathered, unless a course does a u-turn, there won’t be an Irish open on a links course for a very long time.

Mantis Toboggan

K club next year then! Handy one for me!

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119285580#Comment_119285580

That is such a shame, such a waste

billy3sheets

Just back from Mount Juliet. Watched on different holes from last year. Really enjoyed the day. Well organized, fantastic golf, especially from Meronk who I followed from 14 to 16. Weather was perfect for golf and spectators today too.

Even won a few euro on Meronk for Top 5 ☺️

Mushy

Thomas Bjorn had a good tweet there on Thursday or Friday saying how even having this on a links won't necessarily get bigger players as the idea that it being practice on a links for the Open won't necessarily work for pros. If the weather was poor, it just becomes a slog for them, not what they want in a practice round. It's a fair point in the debate.

patob

Great to see a Polish player landing a win, should give the game a boost there.

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119286348#Comment_119286348

Pros will not want to get beat up on links two weeks in a row before The Open, either Irish or Scottish but not both

Mushy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119286565#Comment_119286565

Yeah this is essentially what he was saying. Scottish Open is even held at a tame version of a links

1wizards sleeve

Was this the Lowest quality field in an irish open in recent times

Motivator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119286837#Comment_119286837

The strength of field was poor but it didn’t take anything away from the quality of golf on display, there was some exceptional golf played. Mcilroy played in Mount Juliet last year and missed the cat after spending two days looking like he’d rather be anywhere else but at the tournament.

The lack of “big names” didn’t take away from the quality of golf that was played. Sure it would have been nice to see bigger names to give the event more hype but at the same time, the lesser known players were still brilliant to watch. I’d rather see a breakthrough win for someone like Meronk than watch Mcilroy half heartedly play 2 or 4 days golf. In all honestly, bigger name players would have been a disaster from a viewing perspective anyway. A lot of holes in Mount Juliet are bottlenecks and when big crowds were following the Irish players over the weekend, 90% of them couldn’t see anything anyway.

Tv coverage was terrible also, the main group on Thursday were out at 8 am and were in eating their lunch by the time coverage started. That’s not doing much to help promote the event.

Ivefoundgod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119287316#Comment_119287316

I enjoyed the day I was there and was able to follow Meronk and Campillo on Saturday for a few holes without any issues in terms of crowds. Thats a unique thing in European tour golf in that the vast majority of the big crowds will be following the Irish players regardless of whether they are in contention so you can follow the leaders easily. Meronk was playing some very good stuff, Jack Senior was playing well Saturday too and was great to see that up close.

TV coverage is always like that for European tour events though. They never show the early tee times regardless of what the 'big' group is. Its no different to PGA tour events except the PGA tour has 'featured' groups coverage that Sky usually put on so you can usually follow the big groups Thursday/Friday. The actual coverage usually doesn't start until 7 or 8pm Irish time. European tour is the same except it starts at 1pm usually.

Xander10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119287316#Comment_119287316

I'm glad those that went all seemed to really enjoy. I lasted about 15 mins of TV coverage Saturday and Sunday, the coverage being very dull.

I might make an effort to get to the K Club next year. I really would prefer a return to a link course given what we have on offer

Motivator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119287746#Comment_119287746

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119287775#Comment_119287775

There were some very good players playing, the world rankings are obviously a huge indicator as to how good a player is, but people seem to forget that a player ranked 200 is still the 200th best player of the game in the world. I followed Meronk myself and I followed Thomas Pieters for 6 or 8 holes yesterday. To see a multiple tour winner and Ryder Cup player up close with maybe 15 other people was a real treat.

Seamus Power had probably the biggest following on Saturday yet no more than 300 were following him yesterday for the first 9. I know the early time didn’t suit people but it seemed that because he was out of contention that suddenly he didn’t matter. He was out at 8 am on Thursday and had a huge crowd.

I believe last year tv coverage started on Thursday and Friday to suit Lowry and McIlroy’s tee times. I was at it again last year so I can’t be sure but I think tv coverage was meant to have been better in 2021. Maybe that was to do with covid and limited numbers at the event but still, coverage should be better.

The amount of empty, unmanned tv towers yesterday at different stages looked terrible. Sky seemed to have barely cameras there covering the event. It’s very hard to boost interest in these events with little proper coverage.

Ivefoundgod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119287909#Comment_119287909

I volunteered at it last year, TV coverage was the same I think except they might have started a bit earlier on the Friday to show Rory. If anything I'd have said there was less cameras last year than this year. Saturday/Sunday last year when the leaders came through they had a mobile camera in a caddy car following them as well as Wayne Riley walking along. This year there was multiple mobile cameras following various groups on Saturday, not just Meronk/Campillo. 100% agree that coverage could be better but its the exact same for all the non-rolext European tour events, RTE just broadcast the European tour feed where as Sky show that plus Riley/Inci. The Scottish open will have much better coverage as its co-sanctioned and a Rolex event but the normal regular tour events (which unfortunately for us is what the Irish Open currently is) will have the same type of coverage. You notice it being woeful if someone who's out early at the weekends puts in a good score and they have barely any coverage. They showed Ryan Foxes eagle putt on 17th yesterday from the crane camera that was at the 17th tee/18th Green, it looked ridiculous.

slave1

Even though there have been better courses the best footage in recent times was Ballyliffen and Rory's year in the K Club, highs hard to match!