The Dubai Duty Free Irish Open has been confirmed as taking place in Mount Juliet, County Kilkenny between the 1st and the 4th of July, 2021.
The news came as part of the overall schedule announcement of the European Tour which is looking to get back ion an even keel after the disruption of 2020.
42 tournaments were announced yesterday, across 24 different countries.
The Irish Open has not regained its status on the Rolex Tour, which itself has been refined to four events, each now carrying a prize fund of €8 million.
It is not clear if this reduction is a permanent one but with greater cooperation over events between the Tours, that does look likely.
Ireland has been placed into the second tier though with an increase in prize money back to €3 million making it still one of the richer events on the Tour.
The return to Mount Juliet was planned once the 2020 edition had to move to Galgorm Estate in Northern Ireland during the pandemic restrictions. It will be six weeks later in the calendar but in full holiday season here and now back on the final approach to the Open Championship.
Not being held on a links course will remove some of the potential for the World’s top players to come and get their eye in for that particular style of golf but hopes will still be high of attracting a high-quality field.
“There is no question that the challenge of reshaping our 2020 season in many ways informed our approach to 2021,” said European Tour CEO Keith Pelley.
“One of the key learnings was to group events together in terms of their geographical location to create a more travel-friendly season for our members. That is reflected in numerous concentrations of event locations.”
“Another was to continue to enhance our Rolex Series events at strategic points in the global golfing calendar when the European Tour will be the focal point of golf on the world stage. This is one of the many aspects we will continue to develop in our Strategic Alliance discussions with the PGA Tour, following our historic partnership announcement last month.”
“Our events in the initial part of the 2021 season will continue to operate under the guidelines of our world-class Health Strategy, which will evolve aligned to the latest medical advice.”
“However, with the incredible progress that has been made in recent months in terms of a vaccine, we look forward to hopefully welcoming the gradual return of the fans we’ve so dearly missed, whilst at the same time continuing to entertain viewers at home through our unrivalled World Feed TV output and across our award-winning digital platforms.”
With the Irish leg of the Tour taking place in the second half of the year, albeit right at the beginning of it, and especially with it being only two weeks out from the Open Championship, we have to be hopeful that crowds will be a part of the action at Mount Juliet.
Sport for Business Partners
