Some of the world’s best male and female golfers will tee it up at Galgorm Castle Golf Club and Massereene Golf Club as the ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by Aviv Clinics returns to Northern Ireland from August 11-14.
Englishman Daniel Gavins and Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn will return to defend their titles in the innovative event, where a DP World Tour tournament as well as a co-sanctioned LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour tournament are played concurrently over the two courses. The US$3million prize fund is split equally, with the men and women competing for a share of US$1.5million.
Competitors will each play one round at Galgorm Castle and Massereene Golf Clubs on Thursday and Friday, with the final two rounds of action taking place at Galgorm. The top 60 players and ties in each tournament after the second round will make the cut before a further third round cut to the leading 35 players after 54 holes. During the third and fourth rounds, men and women will play in alternating groups.
Joining Anannarukarn in the women’s field is Ireland’s Leona Maguire, who will play in front of her home fans competitively for the first time since making history as the first ever Irish winner on the LPGA Tour, Northern Irishwoman Stephanie Meadow, who won the 2019 ISPS Handa World Invitational and 2018 Women’s Open champion Georgia Hall.
Maguire, who spent a record 135 weeks at the top of the women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking before turning professional in 2018, won twice on the Symetra Tour in 2019 and won her maiden LPGA Tour title at the LPGA Drive On Championship in February, finishing three strokes ahead of Lexi Thompson in Florida. She came close to a second success in June.
Competing in the men’s field alongside defending champion Gavins will be 2019 champion Jack Senior and recent DP World Tour winner Ewen Ferguson, who won his first title at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in March.
Also teeing it up will be two-time DP World Tour winner Guido Migliozzi, of Italy, and Galgorm’s Touring Professional Tom McKibbin. McKibbin will be joined by fellow Northern Irishmen Dermot McElroy and Cormac Sharvin in the field.
The G4D (Golf for the Disabled) Tour will provide the curtain raiser for the event, with Brendan Lawlor seeking a second victory at Galgorm Castle Golf Club after triumphing in last year’s ISPS Handa World Disability Invitational, while international superstar Niall Horan will participate in the Wednesday Pro-Am alongside the likes of Irish soccer legend Robbie Keane, actor James Nesbitt, comedian Rory O’Connor and Blizzards singer Bressie.
To purchase tickets for the Wednesday Pro-Am and all four tournament rounds, click here.
