The total prize fund on offer at this year's Nissan Irish Open at Portmarnock Golf Club in Dublin from July 24-27 has increased by €200,000 to €1.8 million, a rise of 12 per cent on the 2002 figure.
Last year at Fota Island in Cork, the total prize fund was €1.6 million from which eventual champion Søren Hansen took home a cheque for €266,600 after his thrilling play-off victory over Richard Bland, Niclas Fasth and Darren Fichardt.
This year, the winner of the trophy in the first year of Nissan's sponsorship of the event, will collect a cheque for €300,000.
A measure of the tournament's progress in recent years can be made by comparing the last time the event was staged at Portmarnock, in 1990, when José Maria Olazábal won by three shots from Mark Calcavecchia and Frank Nobilo.
For his victory, Olazábal received a first prize of €80,000 from a total prize fund of €480,000, the €1.8 million on offer this year representing an increase of some 270 per cent.
