England’s Paul Casey and newly-crowned BMW PGA Champion Anders Hansen of Denmark will lead no fewer than 17 champions from The 2007 European Tour International Schedule into action at The K Club for the Smurfit Kappa European Open from July 5-8.
Casey was imperious on his last visit to The K Club for The Ryder Cup as he was unbeaten in Europe’s record-equalling 18 ½ - 9 ½ victory over the United States. Along the way he produced a shot that would later be voted The European Tour Shot of the Year when he holed-in-one on the 14th hole of the Palmer Course in the Saturday afternoon foursomes with David Howell to close out their match against Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson.
Casey won three titles during 2006 on his way to being voted The European Tour Player of the Year and he got his 2007 season off to a winning start when he captured the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in January. The World Number 16 and winner of eight European Tour titles will be looking for his first Irish victory.
Hansen won The European Tour’s flagship event for the second time last month when he captured the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club after beating England’s Justin Rose at the first hole of a sudden-death play-off. That triumph followed his previous success five years earlier and he will be aiming to follow in the illustrious footsteps of Bernhard Langer (1995) and Ian Woosnam (1988) by completing the coveted double of the BMW PGA Championship and Smurfit Kappa European Open titles in the same season.
The 2007 Smurfit Kappa European Open will be played over the Smurfit Course with a prize fund of £2,400,000 and, once again, the public can enjoy the first day’s play for free thanks to the ‘Free Ticket Thursday’ initiative from Ulster Bank. Spectators need to be quick off the mark, however, as the offer ends on Monday June 18.
Last year was the first time any Irish based professional golf tournament offered a free open day to the public and ‘Free Ticket Thursday’ turned out to be a huge success with a record 29,000 people availing of the offer.
Entry tickets for ‘Free Ticket Thursday’ are available to anyone over the age of 16 through any Ulster Bank branch throughout the country or by logging on to;
www.ulsterbankgolf.ie
To complement Ulster Bank’s offer, the tournament organisers have restructured their usual ticketing policy for the event by producing a special ‘Long Weekend Ticket’ which permits entry on Friday July 6, Saturday July 7 and Sunday July 8 for a total cost of €70.
A one-day ticket is priced at €25 if purchased before Monday July 2 and €35 on the gate, while for Senior Citizens the charge is €10 in advance and €15 on the day. Entry for U-16s is free providing they are accompanied by an adult. The ticketing hotline number is +353 (081) 871 9300. For hospitality information, telephone +353 (01) 601 7370 or contact The European Tour Hospitality Department on +44 1344 840400.
