Qualla: Irish Open (golf)

Irish Open (golf): Introduction

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sheila1988, CC0. The rain on the final day of the first Irish Open in August 1927 came down hard enough to knock down the press tents and the refreshment tents at Portmarnock Golf Club. The leader, Jack Smith, had built an eight-shot lead over Henry Cotton by the morning of the third round. He went to pieces in the afternoon. George Duncan, fourteen strokes back at the start of the day, shot 74 in conditions that produced only two rounds under 80 anywhere on the course. He won by a single stroke over Cotton, three over Smith. The first prize was £150. Almost a century later, the Amgen Irish Open offers prize money in the millions, draws crowds that would have astonished Duncan, and is still played, more or less, on the principle that established it in 1927: hand a hard course to the best players in Europe and see who survives.

Read more: Irish Open (golf) on Qualla

Image: Sheila1988 | CC0

Irish Open (golf): The Whitcombes and the English Years

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sheila1988, CC0. After Duncan's win in 1927, the Irish Open was dominated by English golfers for more than a decade. The only non-English winner before the Second World War was the South African Bobby Locke in 1938. Ernest Whitcombe won in 1928 - he opened with 68 and 69 for a seven-stroke lead a...

Read more: Irish Open (golf) on Qualla

Image: Sheila1988 | CC0

Irish Open (golf): Carroll's and the Revival

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. Carroll's, the Dublin tobacco company, had sponsored a separate tournament called the Carroll's International at Woodbrook Golf Club since 1963. In 1975, with the European Tour just three years old and looking for a national open in Ireland, Carroll's took over sponsorship of the...

Read more: Irish Open (golf) on Qualla

Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

Irish Open (golf): Portrush, 2012

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sheila1988, CC0. In 2012, the Irish Open went to Royal Portrush Golf Club on the North Antrim coast. It was the first time a European Tour event had been played in Northern Ireland since the troubles closed the question down. It was the first Irish Open in Northern Ireland since 1953, and the fir...

Read more: Irish Open (golf) on Qualla

Image: Sheila1988 | CC0

Irish Open (golf): Rolex Series, Rory Foundation, Amgen

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sheila1988, CC0. From 2017 to 2020, the Irish Open was one of the European Tour's premium Rolex Series events, each carrying a minimum prize fund of seven million dollars. During those years the championship moved to early July, two weeks before the Open. From 2014 to 2022 (except in 2016) it was...

Read more: Irish Open (golf) on Qualla

Image: Sheila1988 | CC0

Irish Open (golf): The Lost Years and the Found Ones

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sheila1988, CC0. The Irish Open has a complicated relationship with continuity. It paused for the war years. It paused for the long stretch from 1954 to 1974. It paused around sponsorship and venue and the broader fortunes of Irish golf. But when it works, it works. The 2012 attendance at Portrus...

Read more: Irish Open (golf) on Qualla

Image: Sheila1988 | CC0