The 2014 Irish Open will take place the week immediately after the US Open, seven days earlier than it did in 2013.
Confirmation of where the tournament will take place has yet to be confirmed but Carton House and Fota House are believed to be the front runners.
The Irish event is one of four yet to have a venue finalised on the calendar published over the weekend for next year by the European Tour.
The switch in the calendar accommodates a straight swap with the BMW International Open but will have benefit for the crowd numbers avoiding as it does a clash which has happened in the last number of years with the Irish Derby and semi final stages of the Leinster Football Championship.
The tournament has been given another boost by being one of three tournaments, alongside the French and Scottish Opens at which automatic places at the Open Championship will be up for grabs.
There is as yet no commercial headline sponsor for the tournament though the list of commercial partners committed through 2014 and beyond is impressive with Heineken, BMW and Emirates Airlines among those who will feature again.
All four of the current Irish major winners have traditionally included the Irish Open on their schedule. None of Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Padraig Harrington or Darren Clarke made the cut this year but all four are expected to tee off again this year and add to the gate which is traditionally one of the European Tour’s largest.
At the Sport for Business Sports Tourism Seminar earlier this month we heard from Conor Mallaghan of Carton House and others about the importance of golf as a tourism driver, and the near double of average tourist spending power that visitors with clubs produce when landing for Ireland’s renowned links and parkland courses.
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