Adare Manor Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Giving it ‘one more run’ at St Andrews is big motivator for Tiger

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 08:55:23 +0000

Tiger Woods waves at the 18th green as he finishes his round during Day Two of the JP McManus Pro-Am. Ross Kinnaird

By Dan Rapaport
Tiger Woods shed some light on his post-PGA Championship activity when he spoke after his final round Tuesday at the JP McManus Pro-Am, which marked Woods’ first public appearance since withdrawing prior to the final round at Southern Hills—and his last appearance ahead of competing next week at St. Andrews in The 150th Open.

Woods, who shot seven over for the two-day charity competition at Adare Manor in Ireland, said he initially did plan to play last month’s U.S. Open but that his body had other thoughts.

“Physically, I was not able to do that,” Woods said of competing at The Country Club. “There’s no way physically I could have done that. I had some issues with my leg, and it would have put [The Open] in jeopardy and so there’s no reason to do that.

“This is a pretty historic Open that we are going to be playing. I’m lucky enough to be part of the past champions that have won there, and want to play there again. And I don’t know when they are ever going to go back while I’m still able to play at a high level, [so] I want to be able to give it at least one more run at a high level.”

Woods has played just two official events since sustaining traumatic injuries to his right leg in a single-car accident in February 2021. He made the cut at the Masters in April before fading on the weekend, finishing 47th, and also made the weekend at the PGA Championship in May only to withdraw after shooting a third-round 79 during which he was in visible pain.

Woods has won two of his three claret jugs at St. Andrews, completing the career Grand Slam as a 24-year-old at the Home of Golf in 2000 and winning again when the Open returned five years later. He has maintained throughout this latest comeback the importance of competing in the Open given his personal history at St. Andrews and the significance of the 150th Open.

“For me, it’s more about history I think than anything else,” Woods said. “For me personally, knowing Arnold [Palmer], when Arnold’s the one who made the British Open what it is and he came over and qualified, finished second, qualified, finished first, qualified, finished first; if you ever make me qualify, I’m not coming back, so here we are.

“But just look at the names on [the claret jug] and you just go right through time, it’s like a time warp, and just how they put the names on and they start at the bottom and they added the lip and they added the bases and just the little things. And everyone who won that championship, they know how hard it was and looking at some of the scores, I’m thinking, even with a gutta-percha, how did they shoot those scores. It’s awfully impressive and to have won The Open Championship and for me specifically to have won at the Home of Golf is even more special.”

Woods leg is still a work in progress—he rode in a cart during the pro-am and, while he drove the ball relatively well, he did show significant rust. Woods will remain overseas until the Open rather than fly back to Florida, but he did not disclose where he will practice for security and privacy concerns.

As has been his sentiment since the accident, Woods expressed gratitude for simply keeping both his legs and being able to do things with his children, even if it’s at a slightly lower place. He insisted again that he has no estimate for how much longer he’ll be able to compete at the elite level.

“I don’t know. I really don’t. If you asked me last year whether I would play golf again, all of my surgeons would have said no. But here I am playing two major championships this year.

“I will always be able to play golf, whether it’s this leg or someone else’s leg or false leg or different body pieces that have been placed or fused, I’ll always be able to play. Now if you say play at a championship level, well, that window is definitely not as long as I would like it to be.”

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Tiger Woods drove it well, showed rusty short game during Round 1 in Ireland

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 05:37:13 +0000

Ross Kinnaird

By Jay Coffin
Tiger Woods played Monday in Ireland, marking his first competitive round since he withdrew following the third round of the PGA Championship back in May.

A smattering of the world’s best showed up to the JP McManus Pro-Am, a 36-hole event at Adare Manor, with 50 professionals playing stroke play alongside three amateur partners playing a scramble. Adare Manor is scheduled to host the 2027 Ryder Cup.

The score didn’t matter to Woods, although you can bet the 15-time major champ was still a tad miffed that they all added up to five-over 77 at the end of the day. He was in good spirits from beginning to end, drove the ball incredibly well but did not display the trademark short game that we’ve seen so often over the past quarter-century.

Woods arrived on the tee and was promptly introduced as, “the one, the only Tiger Woods.” The gallery was enormous and showed support for Woods all day as he’s using this two-day event to start preparation for the 150th Open Championship next week at the Old Course in St. Andrews. He showed the same noticeable limp that he displayed at both the Masters and PGA Championship and he did have a golf cart available, although he walked fairly often. Friend and longtime business partner Rob McNamara served as Woods’ caddie.

Oisin Keniry

“I don’t know how I’m going to get my cart around here,” Woods joked regarding the large gathering of people surrounding the first tee.

Woods made double bogey on the second hole when he failed to get up and down and missed a six-footer for bogey. On the fifth hole he was short with his approach and used putter but the ball stopped at the top of a hill and rolled back near his feet. He hit another poor chip on the par-5 seventh hole but was able to then get up and down for par. On the par-5 ninth hole Woods hit driver off the deck for the second shot and lost it way right of the fairway. That led to another bogey. There were a couple other small hiccups over the closing holes, but nothing significant.

“Just don’t look at our scorecard, but we’re having fun,” Woods said during the round.

The two highlights came on the 10th and 12th holes. Woods hit a pitching wedge to three feet for an easy birdie on the par-4 10th hole, then chipped in for eagle on the par-5 12th.

Tiger roar in Ireland ?@JPProAm | #JPProAm2022 pic.twitter.com/A1rqad8NoW

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 4, 2022

Xander Schauffele, continuing strong play from his Travelers Championship victory a week ago, made eight birdies to shoot eight-under 64. He leads Rickie Fowler by three shots and Tyrrell Hatton by four at the end of the first round. All three major winners from this year are in the field. World No. 1 and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler shot 75, PGA champion Justin Thomas shot 72 while U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick shot 78.

Seamus Power and Shane Lowry were low Irishmen on the day and are tied for fourth place at 69. Ireland’s Leona Maguire, winner on the LPGA and a huge contributor to Europe’s Solheim Cup win last fall, is the only woman in the field. She recorded three birdies and three bogeys to shoot 72.

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Scottie Scheffler hits horrendous chip shot, makes World No. 1 break out in laughter

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 05:36:14 +0000

Andrew Redington

By Jay Coffin
Scottie Scheffler hit an unspeakably horrible chip shot Monday at the JP McManus Pro-Am, one that provided chuckles all around, including from the World No. 1 himself.

Scheffler was one under on his round after nine holes at Adare Manor and was right of the 10th green. He was attempting to hit a flop shot to a pin tucked tightly to the right. He opened up the blade of his wedge, took a swing and the ball went dead right, up and over the person holding the television camera. The ball bounced off the side of the green and back down near the same gallery.

World Number One Scottie Scheffler is human after all ? @JPProAm | #JPProAm2022 pic.twitter.com/RqO6yDwPRB

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 4, 2022

The Irish fans laughed and Scheffler did as well as he walked the 10 paces over to where his ball ended up. He failed to get up and down from that spot and made double-bogey 6 on the hole.

Scheffler, winner of four PGA Tour events this year, including the Masters, last played at the Travelers Championship and tied for 13th place. This week he heads the field of the Genesis Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick where 14 of the top 15 players in the world will compete.

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Tiger Woods confirms appearance at JP McManus Pro-Am ahead of Open Championship at St Andrews

Matt Smith — Sat, 02 Jul 2022 15:28:57 +0000

By Matt Smith
Tiger Woods has confirmed he will take part in the JP McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort in Ireland on Monday as he prepares for the 150^th Open Championship at St Andrews.

The American superstar will join a stellar cast, with nine of the world’s top 10 players already signed up, including Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rory McIlroy.

It will be Tiger’s first event since the US PGA championship at the end of May.

The JP McManus Pro-Am organisers also confirmed the withdrawal of Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg at the celebrity event.

“We regret to inform you that Mark Wahlberg is unable to attend the Pro-Am. We look forward to welcoming him back to Adare Manor in the future,” they said in a statement.

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Ireland’s Adare Manor to host 2026 Ryder Cup

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 28 Jul 2019 03:40:21 +0000

Laurence Lambrecht
Premier Irish Golf Resort in Adare, County Limerick, Ireland

By John Huggan
Less than a week after the successful playing of the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, the golf limelight once again falls on the island of Ireland.

Officials with Ryder Cup Europe announced on Thursday that the Ryder Cup will be played at Ireland’s Adare Manor in 2026. The County Limerick course in the southwest part of the republic, owned by multi-millionaire businessman J.P McManus since 2015, is home to an award-winning five-star hotel, as well as the Tom Fazio-designed “The Golf Course.”

“The course is very close to my heart as I was involved in the recent renovations,” says three-time major champion Padraig Harrington, the Dubliner who will captain the European Ryder Cup side at Whistling Straits next year. “It is now, combining the course and the clubhouse, the best resort in Europe. The conditions are immaculate, second-to-none.”

Still, judging from recent history, it is not necessarily the quality of the course that may have played the biggest role in Adare Manor’s bid proving most attractive to the European Tour, which runs the Ryder Cup along with the PGA of America. Ever since 1981, when the Ryder Cup was played at Walton Heath just outside London, the matches have essentially been sold to the highest bidder when contested in Europe. Which is why they have been played on less-heralded courses than those of the Open Championship rota, such as The Belfry, the K Club, Valderrama, Celtic Manor and the PGA Course at Gleneagles in the last 25 years.

Not insignificantly, according to reports that broke news of the announcement earlier on Thursday, as part of the deal that will see Ireland play host to the biennial contest for just the second time (2006, K Club), the financial future of the European Tour’s Irish Open has been guaranteed until 2026. Again, this is nothing new. The Wales Open (Celtic Manor), the Johnnie Walker Classic (Gleneagles), the French Open (Le Golf National) and the European Open at the K Club near Dublin, where the Ryder Cup was previously held when it was in Ireland in 2006, all benefitted similarly over the last couple of decades. All, however, have either disappeared from the European Tour schedule or suffered a significant downgrading after hosting the Ryder Cup, which reputedly funds the European Tour’s operations for four years.

So money talks loudest where the Ryder Cup is concerned. And the background to this announcement is no different. According to BBC Sport, it is believed that the cost to the Irish government will be tens of millions of Euros. But the hoped for benefit to the economy will be more than €160 million.

“Irish sport and Irish golf is really excelling now,” Irish sports minister Shane Ross told BBC Sport in the wake of Shane Lowry’s thrilling victory at Royal Portrush last week. “We would love to see Shane teeing-up, along with other Irish players, in Adare. It would be absolutely superb.”

Indeed. And expensive.

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FUTURE RYDER CUP VENUES
2020: Whistling Straits, Haven, Wis.
2022: Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, Rome, Italy
2024: Bethpage Black, Farmingdale, N.Y.
2026: Adare Manor, County Limerick, Ireland
2028: Hazeltine National, Chaska, Minn.
2030: TBD
2032: Olympic Club, San Francisco
2034: TBD
2036: Congressional Country Club (Blue Course), Bethesda, Md.

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Reports: Ireland’s Adare Manor to host 2026 Ryder Cup

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 12:54:58 +0000

Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Padraig Harrington of Ireland acknowledges the crowd during the Irish Open at the Adare Manor in 2008.

By John Huggan
Ireland’s Adare Manor will be named site for the 2026 Ryder Cup as early as Thursday, according to multiple reports in the U.K. and Ireland. The County Limerick course in the southwest part of the republic, owned by multi-millionaire businessman J.P McManus since 2015, is home to an award-winning five-star hotel, as well as the Tom Fazio-designed “The Golf Course.”

Still, judging from recent history, it is not necessarily the quality of the course that may have played the biggest role in Adare Manor’s bid proving most attractive to the European Tour, which runs the Ryder Cup along with the PGA of America. Ever since 1981, when the Ryder Cup was played at Walton Heath just outside London, the matches have basically gone to the highest bidder when contested in Europe. Which is why they have been played on less-heralded courses than those of the Open Championship rota, such as The Belfry, the K Club, Valderrama, Celtic Manor and the PGA Course at Gleneagles in the last 25 years.

Not insignificantly, according to reports, as part of the deal that will see Ireland play host to the biennial contest for only the second time, the financial future of the European Tour’s Irish Open has been guaranteed until 2026. Again, this is nothing new. The Wales Open (Celtic Manor), the Johnnie Walker Classic (Gleneagles), the French Open (Le Golf National) and the European Open at the K Club near Dublin, where the Ryder Cup was previously held when it was in Ireland in 2006, all benefited similarly over the last couple of decades. All, however, have either disappeared from the European Tour schedule or suffered a significant downgrading after hosting the Ryder Cup, which reputedly funds the European Tour’s operations for four years.

So money talks loudest where the Ryder Cup is concerned. And the background to this announcement is no different. According to BBC Sport, it is believed that the cost to the Irish government will be tens of millions of Euros. But the hoped-for benefit to the economy will be more than €160 million.

Indeed. And expensive.

[divider] [/divider]

FUTURE RYDER CUP VENUES

2020: Whistling Straits, Haven, Wis.
2022: Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, Rome, Italy
2024: Bethpage Black, Farmingdale, N.Y.
2026: Adare Manor, County Limerick, Ireland
2028: Hazeltine National, Chaska, Minn.
2030: TBD
2032: Olympic Club, San Francisco
2034: TBD
2036: Congressional Country Club (Blue Course), Bethesda, Md.

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