Michael Hoey, a five-time European Tour winner, has welcomed the Northern Ireland Open, presented by Modest! Golf’s drive for innovation following the announcement of a new match play format for the final round of the tournament.
After three rounds, the top 24 will compete in a six-hole stroke play match play format known as ‘Shootout Sunday’, which is sure to add to the drama at Galgorm Castle which typically attracts some of the largest crowds of the European Challenge Tour season.
Hoey has been a longstanding supporter of the event as Tournament Ambassador and is hoping the brand new format will help the NI Open stand out in a crowded summer of sport, with the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation taking place at nearby Portstewart Golf Club one month earlier.
“We talked to a lot of people about it,” he said. “It’s quite close to the Irish Open so we felt it was important to make it a little bit different, and it will be a really good initiative.
“It’s got a bit more stroke play emphasis to the first three rounds and then the stroke play match play, so that’s a very fair format.
“Not every tournament wants to do that, there’s maybe four tournaments throughout the year that want to try something different and I think it’s a good fit for Galgorm.
“They always run a very good tournament and if this new format brings everyone down the 18th, where the good grandstands are, which it will, then that will create a really great atmosphere.”
The change to the NI Open is the latest in a series of initiatives on the European and Challenge Tours, with this year’s Road to Oman already set to feature the return of match play golf after an 18-year absence at the Costa del Sol Andalucía Match Play 9 and a new modified stableford format for the Bridgestone Challenge.
The NI Open ‘Shootout Sunday’ resembles the recent ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth, where the top 24 played six-hole matches to decide the tournament on the Sunday – the difference being that in Ballymena the matches will be stroke play, ensuring that all contests will conclude on the 18th green.
Among the players whose advice Hoey sought when planning the NI Open’s new format was Brett Rumford, who triumphed in Australia last month.
“I was speaking to Brett about it because he was on my flight to India a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “He was saying that it was a lot of golf and that it was very intense because every hole was like a play-off hole, with it only being six holes.
“I think the stroke play match play might make it a fraction less intense but it will still be a lot of golf, but with that slight twist on the Challenge Tour compared to Perth keeps it as a new match play tournament which is going to be good.
“With the Irish Open being a new Rolex Series event and with the NI Open being up against the US PGA Championship, it’s not that they had to do something different but it helps the tournament stand out.”
Hoey has four Challenge Tour wins to his name and finds himself back on the Road to Oman this year after narrowly missing out on retaining his European Tour status last season.
A graduate in 2005, the 38 year old has long been a vocal supporter of Europe’s top developmental tour and this link has only been reinforced by his involvement in his home event over the past five seasons.
“I’m very proud of the event,” he said. “It’s been great to be involved with it over the years, and has helped me a lot. They are brilliant, Gary and his team at Galgorm, they get it done and are very effective at running the tournament.
“They’re very professional, the course is always well set up, fantastic support from the spectators, and if we get lucky with the weather this year it will be perfect so fingers crossed.”
