Tournament host and World Number One Rory McIlroy will tee it up with American superstar Rickie Fowler and US Open Champion Martin Kaymer when the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation gets under way this Thursday.
With the spectacular Royal County Down set to host Ireland’s National Open for the first time in 76 years, home favourite McIlroy will get it his bid for a maiden Irish Open title started at 0800 on Thursday morning in the company of friend and Ryder Cup rival Fowler and Germany’s Kaymer, who won his second Major title in wire-to-wire fashion at Pinehurst last summer.
Elsewhere, 2014 Irish Open winner Mikko Ilonen will get his defence started at 1250 on Thursday alongside World Number Seven Sergio Garcia and three-time Major winning Irishman Padraig Harrington.
In a threeball featuring a trio of highly promising up-and-comers, last week’s surprise winner of the BMW PGA Championship, Byeong-hun An, returns to the day job at 1310 with England’s Tommy Fleetwood and charismatic Frenchman Victor Dubuisson, while Francesco Molinari, who led for three rounds at Wentworth Club last week, is joined at 1300 by four-time Major winner Ernie Els and 2009 Irish Open champion Shane Lowry.
Former World Number One Luke Donald is off bright and early at 0740 on Thursday with Ryder Cup skipper Darren Clarke plus England’s Danny Willett – one of four members of the Great Britain and Ireland team in this week’s field who played in the Walker Cup at Royal County Down back in 2007.
Meanwhile, evergreen Spaniard Miguel Angel Jiménez is back in action after his hole-in-one heroics in Surrey last week, off at 0750 with England’s Lee Westwood and former US Open winner and Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell.
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