Leona Maguire is anticipating a tricky challenge over the first two days of the ISPS Handa World Invitational  in Northern Ireland this week.

The event — co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour — sees two separate 72-hole stroke play tournaments for the men and women with two separate prize funds of $1.5 million.

Over the first two rounds, the players will face two different courses as they tee it up on the parklands course at Galgorm Castle and on the links at Castlerock Golf Club.

And having to play both set-ups back to back, Maguire knows she will have to adapt to each course and the conditions.

“It’s two very different tests this week,” said the two-time LPGA Tour winner. “Obviously, one being links, one being parkland. Castlerock is a pure links golf course.

“The conditions will very much be dependent on weather. There are semi-blind tee shots and like on any golf course, you need to stay out of those pot bunkers that can be pretty penal.

“Galgorm is playing lush and soft, a little bit more target golf I think, and you have to stay out of the rough. It will definitely be a premium on hitting fairways around Galgorm.

“In links in particular, with the winds, there are some shots that you can hit four different clubs and there’s not really a right or a wrong club. It’s whatever you think at that moment in time.

“Whereas over here on this side at Galgorm it’s more target golf and you’re just going to hit it straight at the pin. It’s an adjustment in mindset, but I think that’s the fun of it. It’s nice when you have to be a little bit more creative and use your imagination a little bit, and it’s not just stand up and hit it wherever you want.

“That’s the beauty of links golf. We played Castlerock pretty calm yesterday in one wind, and then it can be you hit driver, wedge one day and it could be driver, 3-wood the next day, so it depends, and you have to judge it when you get there and take each one as it comes.”

It’s go time at Galgorm ?#RaiseOurGame | #WorldInvitational pic.twitter.com/HIa3PFzL4u

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) August 17, 2023

Maguire, who is No. 14 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, will begin her competition at Castlerock alongside American Mina Hariage and Anne van Dam of the Netherlands.

While the Irishwoman also hopes the crowd will be able to appreciate the golf game of the men and women teeing it up this week.

“We’ll probably have quite different strategies in terms of how we play the holes,” she explained. “We’ll probably be going driver a lot out here, whereas they’re probably taking 2-irons and things off tees.

“It’s fun to see a few of the guys I played junior golf with. I was up here on Monday afternoon and two of the first guys I saw were Matteo Manassero and Adrian Otaegui, who I played the Junior Ryder Cup with in 2008.

“I haven’t really seen them since, so nice to catch up with them and see how far we’ve all come. We’ve all won on Tour now, and nice to see the journey.

“It’ll be fun for the fans as well to see those alternating groups and see the difference, and hopefully people don’t try to compare too much. I think that you can enjoy the skill of both the ladies and the men without having to sort of compare and contrast them. There are great things to see and learn from both sides.”

The 28-year-old who hails from Cavan, Ireland will have plenty of support on the ground this week with family and friends in attendance.

And after solid weeks in the final two majors of the year with T42 at The Amundi Evian Championship and T30 at the AIG Women’s Open, Maguire is not putting too much pressure on herself and is focusing on enjoying the game.

She added: “My mum and dad are here, my sister Lisa is on the bag, and I have lots of friends coming. A lot of friends from junior golf that we haven’t seen in quite a while. It’s nice to see some of those familiar faces, and anytime they are rooting you on, it’s extra special.

“All the pieces are there. It’s just getting them to click at the right time. Hopefully, that can sort of happen in the next few weeks again. The way the year has gone, getting the win and everything, everything that happens for the second half of the season is kind of a bonus.

“I’m not really putting too much pressure on myself. I just want to enjoy these few weeks of golf and the last of the European stretch and then we’ll finish the season off.”

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By Kent Paisley
A decade before her first LPGA Tour victory at the ISPS Handa World Invitational on Sunday, Pajaree Anannarukarn had a conversation with her dad about how she was marking her golf balls. Her creative 12-year-old self drew so many pictures on the ball, she could hardly see its white cover when it sat in the rough. They agreed she should stick to one phrase to mark her ball, “Good Luck,” which is how she marks her ball to this day.

So maybe it was no coincidence that her first career LPGA victory came in Northern Ireland with perhaps a little luck of the Irish to defeat Emma Talley in a two-hole playoff after each concluded 72 holes in 16-under 275 at Galgorm Castle Golf Club. The afternoon ended with Anannarukarn’s father hoisting her up in celebration, gleefully spinning around on the 18th green as friends sprayed them with water.

“[My dad has] always been by my side along the way from the very beginning of my career,” Anannarukarn said. “And just to be able to share it with him was very, very special.”

Anannarukarn admitted there was some luck to how she recovered from a slip-up at the par-4 sixth. Tied for the lead entering the hole, she had to take relief from an awkward stance next to a tree in the scruff following a wayward tee shot. She wound up posting a triple bogey to fall behind by two.

Rather than lamenting the triple, Anannarukarn somehow let go of the jarring moment as soon as she walked to the seventh tee.

“I just forgot,” Anannarukarn said. “I just kind of just stood up and told myself to keep trying, just do the best I can.”

Anannarukarn recomposed herself, playing the final 12 holes at three-under. She trailed Kupcho by a stroke with three to play, but Kupcho opened the door with bogeys on two of her final three holes, the final one a shot into the water at the par-5 18th hole with her third shot from the left rough. The 2019 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion missed out on the playoff by a stroke in her bid for a first LPGA victory.

“I choked at nationals one year and then the next year came back and won,” Kupcho said, “So I think it’s just all part of building and learning from every experience.”

It turned into match-play mode from there between Talley and Anannarukarn. On her 72nd hole, Anannarukarn ran her birdie putt eight feet past the cup. But the Thai native and Talley each knocked in their pars, guaranteeing a first-time winner.

After pars at he first playoff hole, Talley hit her drive in the second extra hole into a bunker right of the fairway. Anannarukarn followed on a similar line, but her ball carried the bunker narrowly and settled in the rough.

Talley compounded her error with a second shot into rough and a third careening off the patrons to the right of the green. After Anannarukarn hit the green with her third, Talley’s chip just stopped short of the green. Her 20-foot right-to-left par putt from the fringe missed the cup low left, leaving a tap-in bogey. Anannarukarn, hitting her first putt over the fringe to eight feet, then holed the winning putt.

Anannarukarn credited the consistency of her approach to how she remained seemingly calm under pressure with her putter.

“I just really go back to my routine,” Anannarukarn said, “and try to stay focused and committed to the given line and really trust that I can make those.”

The second-place finish is the best result of Talley’s career. She tried to maintain that perspective before play began Sunday, jotting in her yardage book, ”Thank God for this opportunity and the experience no matter what happens,” on Saturday night.

“That’s how I truly feel,” Talley said afterward.

Anannarukarn’s victory makes her the fifth first-time winner on the LPGA Tour in 2021. She is also the fourth Thai player to win this year, joining Patty Tavatanakit at the ANA Inspiration, Ariya Jutanugarn at the Honda LPGA Thailand and Moriya and Ariya Jutanugarn partnering for a victory at the DOW Great Lakes Bay Invitational. It’s the most individual Thai champions in a single season in LPGA history.

“It’s a great honor to be able to be representing Thailand and also winning out here,” Anannarukarn said. “It’s definitely a dream come true to be able to achieve this.”

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With lake and Alp views, this club between Munich and Tegernsee promises an idyllic golf getaway

By Kent Gray
We all look forward to a time when we can travel freely once more and especially when future trips for business or pleasure allow us to indulge our passion for golf. When that time comes, Golf Valley in the heart of Germany’s Bavarian region shapes as an alluring escape. Offering 27 holes of golf from the drawing board of Canadian architect David Krause, Golf Valley presents a challenging experience close to Munich. Part of the IMG Prestige global network, the club includes a 9-hole academy course and a high tech golf development centre with flood-lit driving range and short game practice area. Just the place to rejuvenate mind, body and game before exploring the local delights.

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While the event is being staged sans spectators, it remains one of the tour’s blue-chip tournaments and a must-watch for golf fans around the globe.

RELATED: Padraig Harrington and his caddie teamed up to move one of the largest loose impediments in golf history

South Africa’s Dean Burmester and Englishmen Jordan Smith and Aaron Rai share the first-round lead in County Antrim after carding five-under 65s on Thursday. To help our loyal audience enjoy the event even more, we’ve teamed with our Golf Digest colleagues in Ireland to bring you the official 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open programme FREE!  (Click on the highlighted link left or directly on the cover below).

If you’re a collector of golf memorabilia, this is a historic keepsake given the age in which golf finds itself. Even if you aren’t, there are some interesting interviews worthy of a look, including a chat with 2009 Irish Open winner and reigning Open champion Shane Lowry. Enjoy.

Let’s take a trip to Northern Ireland

Check out some of the first round highlights from the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in this @TaylorMadeGolf Golf Central Update. pic.twitter.com/KHDtU20bs4

— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) September 24, 2020

The post Get the official Dubai Duty Free Irish Open programme here FREE! appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Galgorm Castle Golf Club in Ballymena, Northern Ireland is a long way from Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, USA, but there is a connection created by the coronavirus pandemic. The fourth week in September was set aside for the now postponed Ryder Cup. We’ll have to wait 12 months for the matches in Wisconsin but the consolation prize is news that the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, postponed from May, has now slotted into the September 24-27 vacancy in the global calendar. There will be just €1.25 million prizemoney and therefore no Rolex Series status, no fans and a field unlikely to feature any of the field from the U.S. Open scheduled for Winged Foot the previous week. But given the state of the world, we’re simply grateful one of the European Tour’s premier events will be played in 2020 at all. The County Antrim course will be a slick host too; Galgorm Castle GC has hosted the Northern Ireland Open since 2013 and will get a dress rehearsal for the DDF Irish Open with the Challenge Tour event still a go for September 3-6. The European Tour hope to return to Mount Juliet, the original 2020 DDF Irish Open host venue, in 2021. galgormcastle.com

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By Kent Gray
The coronavirus pandemic has cut a swathe through the 2020 Race to Dubai schedule. Thankfully the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open has survived the chaos although, like a lot of professional golf events around the world, not totally unscathed.

Originally a Rolex Series event scheduled for Mount Juliet Estate in County Kilkenny from May 28-31, the DDF Irish Open was postponed on March 30 due to COVID-19. Now the €1.25 million European Tour event has a new date, a new home and less prize money than originally planned for 2020.

Galgorm Castle Golf Club will become the fourth club from Northern Ireland to host the island of Ireland’s national open from September 24-27, the date vacated by the rescheduling of The 2020 Ryder Cup to 202. It follows the week after the U.S. Open at Winged Foot and will be one of just five regular season events (not including majors or WGC events) before the season-ending DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates, rescheduled from mid Nov. to Dec.10-13.

It will be the first time the County Antrim venue has hosted the DDF Irish Open.

The 2020 Ryder Cup would have been a celebration of Irish golf with three-time Major Champion Padraig Harrington captaining Europe in the contest at Whistling Straits – the third European Captain from the island of Ireland in the past four contests. While that will now happen next September, the 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Galgorm this September will mark a new chapter in the tournament’s history.

DDF’s Colm McLoughlin with Jon Rahm after winning the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open for a second time in 2019

With quarantine restrictions for travellers into the Republic of Ireland ongoing and the ban on mass gatherings still in place, the European Tour made the decision to move the tournament to Northern Ireland where it will be subject to similar guidelines to the current ‘UK Swing’ events, including being played behind closed doors. Planning remains on-going for the tournament to return to Mount Juliet in 2021 providing all health guidelines in place at that time can be met.

Following the changes to the date and the venue, allied to the overall disruption to the schedule, the 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open will have a prize fund of €1.25 million and therefore will not be part of the Rolex Series. The European Tour will announce full plans for the Rolex Series in due course.

“The Dubai Duty Free Irish Open is an integral part of the European Tour’s schedule and despite the obvious challenges of staging any event in the current circumstances, we felt it was important to continue with the tournament providing we could do so safely,” said European Tour Chief Executive Keith Pelley.

“We did that, first and foremost with the support of Colm McLoughlin and everyone involved with our title sponsor Dubai Duty Free who once again showed commitment and understanding of the current global situation, and proved what a wonderful partner of the European Tour they are. We also did it with the support of the Northern Ireland Executive who deserve our sincere thanks.

“With the ongoing restrictions in the Republic of Ireland, we opted to move the tournament to Northern Ireland and are extremely grateful to Gary Henry and everyone at Galgorm Castle Golf Club for stepping up to host us.”

Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free, said: “We have been working closely with the European Tour over the past several months to find a way of staging the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open this year. The priority of course has been to stage an event that strictly follows all government protocols in light of Covid-19 and to ensure the safety of players and all those involved in the event.

“We are pleased that the Galgorm Castle Golf Club in County Antrim has been selected as a suitable venue, with the Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort as the official accommodation. Without a doubt, the tournament will be different this year but we think that the players and fans are going to enjoy this return to world-class golf on the Island of Ireland.”

Galgorm Castle Golf Club has hosted the Northern Ireland Open on the European Challenge Tour since 2013, including last year’s innovative tournament – the ISPS Handa World Invitational Men|Women presented by Modest! Golf Management which featured both a men’s and women’s competition.

Despite hosting the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open from September 24-27, the County Antrim venue will continue its involvement with the Challenge Tour by also hosting the Northern Ireland Open hosted by The R&A from September 3-6.

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