Olympic Champion Justin Rose will make his first appearance at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation in seven years when he joins a world-class field at Portstewart Golf Club from July 6th to 9th.
His presence, along with his Olympic Gold medal and near miss at the Masters earlier this month will add further lustre to an event which is very much on the rise still after Rory McIlroy’s stunning triumph at the K Club last year.
The Englishman will be playing on Northern Irish soil for the first time in his professional career when he travels over for the third Rolex Series event of the season, having last played the prestigious event back in 2010.
Rose has since become a Major Champion – winning the 2013 US Open – as well as securing Olympic Gold at the Rio 2016 Games and will add to the growing list of Major-winning superstars to play in what will be the biggest Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in history, boasting an unprecedented $7 million prize fund.
The nine-time European Tour winner came agonisingly close to a second Major title at the recent Masters Tournament, losing out to Sergio Garcia on the first play-off hole in a dramatic finale at Augusta National.
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“Ireland is fortunate that golf is in the DNA of its people which certainly helps crowd numbers every year. In addition to that, as well as being large in number, the crowds at the Irish Open are always very knowledgeable about our sport which makes it gratifying for our players to play in front of them.”
That impressive performance came on the back of an impressive opening five months of the season, finishing runner-up on one other occasion and claiming two further top five finishes on the US PGA Tour.
“I haven’t played the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open for a while so I’m excited about going back,” said Rose.
“With Rory’s involvement the last couple of years the event has gone from strength to strength and being part of the Rolex Series will give it an even bigger boost.
“Irish fans are always a lot of fun to play in front of, it’s always good ‘craic’ out there. We’ll all enjoy the tournament and it’s obviously great preparation for The Open Championship too.
“I think it’s very good to get some links golf under your belt before The Open. Playing the Scottish Open the week before is a great idea and also playing two weeks before is great because you can have a week before to fine tune.
“The fact that we have these options running into The Open is fantastic and they are top quality events which will hopefully attract not just the top European players, but maybe some players from across the pond in the USA as well.”
Tickets for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation are on sale at www.dubaidutyfreeirishopen.com, and begin at £20 for Pro-Am Wednesday, with tickets for Thursday and Friday costing £40 and day tickets for the weekend costing £45.
An adult season souvenir ticket, which covers five days of world class golf from Wednesday to Sunday, costs just £100 (a saving of £90 over the course of the five days).
Image Credit: Inpho
