2011 Irish Open Leaves Good Feeling

Simon Dyson [Getty Images]

It was a week of superlatives in the Killarney Golf & Fishing Club last week with the Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland billed as a celebration of national golfing heroes, one of whom had just added a major victory to his career honours in he previous week. That Darren Clarke was the third Northern Ireland golfer to win major, following in the footsteps of a graduate of his academy, Rory Mcilroy, only added to the overall atmosphere. Last year it was Graeme McDowell who was earning top billing following his feat on the Monterrey Peninsula. 

Padraig Harrington, the triple major winner, was also in the mix which made the event a record itself as it was the first time there were two current major winners in the field. The first time there were so many title holders in the field. More notably it was the first time in Irish golf that all those titles were held by home players, which in itself is a bizarre fact - with the timing still largely unexplained. 

Regardless it all added to the magic of the week. 

Such was the good will that Barnardos, Ireland’s leading children’s charity, benefited to the tune of over €60,000 through a wide variety of fundraising initiatives at the Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland. Of which Genworth’s was at the forefront of the fundraising with the inclusion of the Putts4Charity One Putt Pledge, which saw €5 donations from the Genworth Foundation, the charitable arm of Genworth, and the Tour Players Foundation, the charitable foundation of The European Tour, for each single putt made by the players competing at the €1.5million event, held at the Killeen Course at the Killarney Golf & Fishing Club last week. 

The players made 2,360 single putts and, with the additional generosity of the public who also made pledges, just short of €26,000 was raised through this One Putt 

Genworth’s Putts4Charity Champions Challenge also took place in the Tented Village on the purpose-built putting green, comprising four holes which replicate iconic putts holed by European Tour professionals over the years. Throughout the week, spectators visited the Putts4Charity stand to test their putting skills. 

They were also able to support some of the Tour professionals and celebrity commentators from Thursday to Saturday, as they competed against one another to hole as many one putts as they could. From this competition, an additional €7,000 will be donated by the Genworth Foundation to Barnardos children’s charity. 

Other fundraising activities saw an overwhelming reaction from the general public, with thousands of people paying €5 each to watch Wednesday’s Irish Open for Business Pro-Am, and the Pro-Am competitors also played their part by helping to raise over €13,000 before the tournament began. 

All week, the Family Fun Zone presented by Liebherr entertained children away from the course, with the €1 entry charge contributing further towards the total amount raised for Barnardos. 

Kartel, the Official Clothing Supplier of the 2011 Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland, donated 50 per cent from each sale of the replica shirts that were worn by Padraig Harrington during the event, which added in excess of €5,500 to the total for Barnardos. 

As a result there was €60,301 raised through the generosity of all concerned that will enable Barnardos to work with underprivileged children and families across Ireland. 

Ironically a number of previous winners lost out on Friday, missing the cut. 

Not least were two Irish winners, with Shane Lowry the victor in 2009 at the Country Louth Club and Padraig Harrington winner in Adare Manor in 2008 finished outside the business end of things. They were joined by 1998 winner David Carter, the 2004 winner in Baltray Brett Rumford of Australia , the 2007 Champion Richard Finch and Michael Campbell. 

However two other former winners made the weekend with Denmark’s Soren Hansen faring the best with a 5th place finish. Last year’s winner, Ross Fisher ending the weekend in 17th place. 

Last year Richard Green finished fifth last year. This year he came close to adding another Australian name to the roll of honour. 

No doubt like the rest of us, he too will be back in 2012.