Attention in the golf world is already beginning to switch to Europe ahead of the Open Championship in two weeks’ time and this weekend, some of the world’s top golfers will continue their warm-up for the Open challenge by taking in the Irish Open.
The course at Lahinch, County Clare, offers a genuine links golf test, complete with huge greens, and rolling terrain, and as ever with links golf, the weather will have a huge role to play. The current forecast promises bright conditions and relatively light winds, but fans and players alike will be keeping a close eye on the weather throughout the four days.
The tournament favourite, according to BetCris is Jon Rahm. His credentials appear to be excellent, having won this in 2017, setting a tournament record of 24 under in the process, and he warmed up for this challenge with a second placed finish in Valderrama last week; his ninth top ten of the season, and to prove his 2017 triumph wasn’t a fluke, he finished fourth in this event last year. BetCris rate him as a +780 chance and he is sure to have plenty of supporters this week.
English player Tommy Fleetwood is another leading contender, and he has some form in this event, having finished tenth in 2017. After securing a string of top tens earlier in the season, he appeared to lose his way a little, but a thirteenth place at the Travelers Championship was encouraging and has been enough to see him start this week as second favourite at +1417 with BetCris.
Links golf poses a unique test, and not every player is cut out for it, but those comments certainly don’t apply to Shane Lowry or Louis Oosthuizen. Lowry famously won this tournament as an amateur in 2009 and is in fine form at the moment, having secured three top tens and a creditably top thirty at the US Open, while Oosthuizen can’t claim quite the same level of form, but the former Open champion is a class act on links courses and is sure to be in contention this week.
Tyrrell Hatton also comes into that category, as a two-time Alfred Dunhill Links champion, and he has a fourth-placed Irish Open finish to his name, while Bernd Wiesberger, who has been making a strong comeback this season is another possible in an event where he finished second in 2015.
Among the other potential contenders is Matt Wallace, who has enjoyed a strong season so far in which he has finished third at the PGA Championship and the BMW International, as well as earning a runners-up spot at the British Masters, although he has yet to make the cut in this event, and Jordan Smith, who will also be hoping to transfer his good recent form to a links format.
Links golf always provides a spectacular visual spectacle and with many of the European Tour’s top names heading to Ireland this week, golf fans should be in for a treat.
