*The first hole at Trump Doonbeg. Photograph: Mike Hyde / Carefree Photography
CROWDS of between 70,000 to 75,000 are to descend on Doonbeg in September for The Irish Open, organisers have forecast.
Tee off is edging closer for the Irish Open which takes place from September 9-13th at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg.
Co Clare will “be a festival of golf” in September with Lahinch hosting The Walker Cup and Doonbeg serving as the setting for The Irish Open, General Manager of Trump International Golf Links Ireland, Joe Russell said.
He added, “For the resort, I think it’s the result of years of improvement. We started our journey on the golf course, opened up in July 2002. We’ve been on this journey over the years, and you look at all the previous venues where The Irish Open has been held in the past, to see us now sitting at that podium as well is absolutely fantastic. I think it’s great for the community and none of us would be sitting in this room here this evening if not for the foresight of the people in the community in the late 1990s working through are the original developers and since then Trump. I’m delighted for the community. It’s really a testament to their great work. We are a huge contributor to the economic stimulus for the region, and they are a great support to our club. There’s engagement between ourselves and the community.
“For the wider region, as you know we have the Walker Cup in Lahinch the week prior. So it will be really be a festival of golf for two, three weeks, and we’re delighted,” Russell commented.
Championship Director with the DP World Tour, Paul Gillmon detailed they are expecting up to 75,000 in Doonbeg for The Irish Open. “Tickets are still on sale and evolving on a week‑by‑week basis, but I anticipate this being up there with where we were at when we were at The K Club, anywhere between 70,000 and 75,000. How that breaks out, Sunday we are sold out and Saturday gets close to that and pushes into the midweek as well. I’m anticipating as strong of attendance as we’ve had in the past few years”.
At a community meeting in February, Paul outlined that their aim was to have as little disruption as possible. That remains their goal, he explained. “I think the goal is always to create a positive impact. We don’t hide away from the fact that disruption happens when you try and bring an event of this scale to a part of Ireland that perhaps isn’t necessarily getting this kind of traffic and numbers of people. We continue to work with everyone in the community to plan around that and make sure that we are creating positive impact with the left disruption and when there is disruption, we communicate what that disruption might be. It’s still our goal to disrupt as minimally as possible but I think it’s inevitable that there will be some impact to the local community”.
Adare locals were thrilled when presented with tickets for The Ryder Cup. In Doonbeg, locals will be invited to the Pro-Am on the Wednesday leading up to The Irish Open, Paul confirmed. “We are hosting a community day on the Wednesday of the Pro‑Am day and with that there will be tickets for the local community. We have a ton of other initiatives as well with the local schools, and again, the focus is to offset some of the disruption with a really positive impact for the local community”.
Locals have embraced the tournament already, Russell detailed. “I can’t speak for the entire community, but I say this, based on the reaction which I’m having since the announcement, I think people are welcoming the disruption, you know, whatever shape that’s going to take. People are very engaged through the local community. There’s a subgroup which has been formed within the community to work with the DP World Tour, with Paul and Chris and with his team. Those engagements are very, very positive
