{"id":677369,"date":"2026-09-07T19:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T19:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/677369\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T19:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T19:58:16","slug":"jon-rahm-among-early-irish-open-arrivals-forced-to-take-cover-from-wild-atlantic-welcome-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/677369\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Rahm among early Irish Open arrivals forced to take cover from wild Atlantic welcome \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wild Atlantic Way didn\u2019t hold back in providing a wet and windy welcome to early arrivals at Trump International Doonbeg ahead of the Amgen Irish Open<\/a>. The heavens opened and unleashed pellets of water from dark clouds, in the process clearing the short-game area of players becoming acquainted with the conditions. Jon Rahm was among that small gathering forced to take shelter.<\/p>\n

Still, it won\u2019t come as a surprise that the weather presents part of the challenge ahead of the tournament. <\/p>\n

This is one of the most prized titles on the DP World Tour<\/a>. The Irish Open\u2019s positioning in the tour\u2019s schedule \u2013 ahead of the flagship BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth next week, and a month after the PGA Tour\u2019s FedEx Cup playoffs \u2013 has ensured a strong field. It is a field headed by world No 2 and defending champion Rory McIlroy<\/a>. The international presence is more than solid, featuring some 18 players with tournament wins to their names this season.<\/p>\n

An indication of the strength of the field is that the Irish Open will have a world-ranking points weighting of 190 compared to the 137 rating of last week\u2019s Omega European Masters. Thriston Lawrence retained his title in the Swiss tournament and is in Co Clare<\/a> in a bid to win in successive weeks.<\/p>\n

\"ThorbjornThorbjorn Olesen familiarises himself with the 17th at Trump International Golf Links, Doonbeg, Co Clare. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Interestingly, this week\u2019s field of 138 players is less than the 156 players at most tournaments through the summer. The reason for the reduced number is to attempt to complete play. This particularly applies to the two opening rounds on Thursday and Friday, when reduced light at this time of year combined with any strong winds could make it a race against time.<\/p>\n

McIlroy, the Masters champion, is again the headline act \u2013 just as he was in that dramatic playoff win at The K Club last year \u2013 in a field that features 10 home players. A number of those local players come into the event after lengthy absences from tournament play.<\/p>\n

S\u00e9amus Power hasn\u2019t played since the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour in early August, while Shane Lowry hasn\u2019t had a scorecard in his pocket since the St Jude Championship, which finished on August 16th. <\/p>\n

Thomas Higgins, who narrowly missed out on selection for the Great Britain and Ireland team that defeated the United States in the Walker Cup at Lahinch last weekend, has turned professional. The Roscommon player will make his pro debut here on an invitation.<\/p>\n

Other invites have been extended to former Walker Cup player Cormac Sharvin, Max Kennedy, Liam Nolan and Mark Power, who earned his exemption by finishing as leading Irishman in last month\u2019s Irish Challenge on the Hotel Planner Tour.<\/p>\n

Irish players in the field at the Amgen Irish Open<\/b> (most recent finishes\/where\/when)<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy<\/b>: Tied-4th Tour Championship (PGA Tour) August 30th<\/p>\n

Shane Lowry<\/b>: Tied-52nd FedEx St Jude Championship (PGA Tour) August 16th<\/p>\n

\"ShaneShane Lowry was last in action at the St Jude Classic in mid-August. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n

P\u00e1draig Harrington<\/b>: Tied-7th Ally Challenge (Champions Tour) August 30th<\/p>\n

Tom McKibbin<\/b>: Tied-6th British Masters (DP World Tour) August 30th<\/p>\n

S\u00e9amus Power<\/b>: MC Wyndham Championship (PGA Tour) August 9th<\/p>\n

Mark Power<\/b>: Tied-15th Rosa Challenge (Hotel Planner Tour) September 6th<\/p>\n

Liam Nolan<\/b>: Tied-50th Finnish Challenge (Hotel Planner Tour) August 23rd<\/p>\n

Max Kennedy<\/b>: MC Rosa Challenge (Hotel Planner Tour) September 6th <\/p>\n

Cormac Sharvin<\/b>: MC Irish Challenge (Hotel Planner Tour) August 16th <\/p>\n

Thomas Higgins<\/b>: Professional debut<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wild Atlantic Way didn\u2019t hold back in providing a wet and windy welcome to early arrivals at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[76],"tags":[40191,18,19,17,30561,142367,5952,132],"class_list":["post-677369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-doonbeg","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-open","tag-jon-rahm","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}