DID YOU KNOW? – IRISH OPEN
• Royal Portrush will be staging the Irish Open for the fourth time in the club’s history and first since 1947. The winners were: 1930 – Charles Whitcombe, 1937 – Bert Gadd and 1947 – Harry Bradshaw.
• The Dunluce Links last played host to European competition in 2004, when Pete Oakley won The Senior Open Championship and prior to that The Senior Open Championship between 1995-1999.
• Shane Lowry’s victory as an amateur in the Irish Open in 2009 came on his European Tour debut. He was the first player to achieve this feat since Ben Curtis at The Open Championship in 2003.
• Lowry became the third amateur to win in European Tour history, following Pablo Martin (2003 Open de Portugal) and Danny Lee (2009 Johnnie Walker Classic).
• The Irish Open has a rich history of winners, dating back to 1927, the year it was first played. In all, 14 Major Champions have triumphed in the event. They are: George Duncan (1927), Alf Padgham (1932), Reg Whitcombe (1936), Bobby Locke (1938), Fred Daly (1946), Ben Crenshaw (1976), Hubert Green (1977), Seve Ballesteros (1983, 85, 86), Bernhard Langer (1984, 87, 94), Ian Woosnam (1988, 89), José Maria Olazábal (1990), Sir Nick Faldo (1991-93), Michael Campbell (2003) and Padraig Harrington (2007).
• With Lowrry’s extra-time victory over Robert Rock in 2009, the Irish Open extended its record for most European Tour play-offs in a single European Tour event, with a total of 11 since The European Tour’s first season in 1972.
• When winning the 1992 and 1993 Irish Open, Sir Nick Faldo created European Tour history by becoming the only player to win the same event in consecutive years, via consecutive play-offs. In 1992 he beat Wayne Westner and 12 months later defeated José Maria Olazábal.
• Thomas Björn’s 78 in the first round of the 2006 Irish Open matched the highest first round score by a winner in European Tour history. This was first established by George Burns at another Irish tournament, the 1975 Kerrygold International.
