When is it on?
The 2023 Horizon Irish Open will take place from September 7th to 10th at the K Club in Straffan, Co Kildare. It is a DP World Tour event and while it no longer has Rolex Series status, it is still an important event on the schedule – only five regular DP World Tour events have a bigger prize fund.
How can I watch it all?
The Irish Open is on RTÉ2 from 1pm on Thursday and Friday, on RTÉ One from 1.10pm on Saturday and Sunday. On Sky Sports Golf it is on from 1pm on Thursday and Friday and from 12.30pm on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are still available for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Tell me about The K Club as a venue
The K Club has two courses, the Palmer North and Palmer South (formerly Smurfit) courses. The 2023 Irish Open will be hosted on Palmer North, which last hosted the Irish Open in 2016 when Rory McIlroy spectacularly won the tournament with an eagle on the closing hole, a 5-wood from 250 yards to tap-in range. It is McIlroy’s only victory in the event’s history. The K Club also famously hosted the 2006 Ryder Cup, which saw Europe triumphant on home soil.
It also hosted the Smurfit European Open in the 1990s and 2000s, one of the biggest tournaments on the tour at the time, on both the North and South Courses. Designed by Arnold Palmer, the K Club is known for its water features and like its designer is known for offering multiple risk-reward shot-making opportunities.
Is Rory McIlroy playing?
Rory McIlroy is back playing at the Irish Open after missing the event last year. McIlroy has continued his trend of playing in Ireland at least once every year since he turned professional (missing the Irish Open twice he played elsewhere – 2019 at the Open in Royal Portrush and 2022 at the JP McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor).
[ Is Rory McIlroy’s relationship with the Irish Open a marriage of convenience?Opens in new window ]
The K Club brings back good omens for McIlroy as a winner in 2016. There were some concerns with his participation due to back issues at the Tour Championship but McIlroy is teeing up as one of his two warm-up tournaments before the Ryder Cup in Rome at the end of the month. The 34-year-old failed to win a major this year but it has been a solid one otherwise, winning twice and he is second in the world rankings.
Who are the other Irish players in the field?
All the best Irish pros in the world of golf are here, including Shane Lowry fresh off his inclusion in the Ryder Cup team as a wild card pick. Séamus Power misses out through injury but Pádraig Harrington will be there and Tom McKibbin, who will play his first Irish Open as a tour winner after winning the European Open in June. John Murphy, Jonathan Caldwell, Conor Purcell and Mark Power, who just turned professional after playing in the Walker Cup last weekend, have all received tournament invitations.
[ Mark Power to make his professional debut at the Irish Open at the K ClubOpens in new window ]
Who else has come to play?
Englishman Tyrrell Hatton is the next top-ranked player in the field after McIlroy, Hatton is a six-time winner on the DP World Tour. There are seven players in the top 50 of the world rankings – Lowry, McIlroy, Hatton are joined by Americans Billy Horschel and Tom Hoge and Australians Minwoo Lee and Adam Scott. Scott is playing in his first Irish Open in more than 20 years and the 43-year-old is a former world number one and Masters champion. Another former Masters champion Danny Willett is in the field, as is last year’s Irish Open winner Adrian Meronk.
What are the tee-times?
Thursday/Friday (*denotes amateur)
1st tee/10th tee
07:30/12:30 D Van Tonder (RSA), J Murphy (Irl), T Pulkkanen (Fin)
07:40/12:40 E Pepperell (Eng), J Lagergren (Swe), A Sullivan (Eng)
07:50/12:50 H Du Plessis (RSA), G Forrest (Sco), Haotong Li (Chn)
08:00/13:00 O Hundebøll (Den), D Germishuys (RSA), J Wang (Kor)
08:10/13:10 S Gallacher (Sco), A Otaegui (Esp), D Whitnell (Eng)
08:20/13:20 H Long (Ger), O Wilson (Eng), C Sordet (Fra)
08:30/13:30 R Mansell (Eng), J Brun (Fra), S Jamieson (Sco)
08:40/13:40 Y Kim (Kor), A Knappe (Ger), A Cockerill (Can)
08:50/13:50 J Caldwell (NIR), M Kinhult (Swe), M Kieffer (Ger)
09:00/14:00 M Lindberg (Swe), G Wiebe (USA), P Figueiredo (Por)
09:10/14:10 C Purcell (Irl), M Pavon (Fra), N Von Dellingshausen (Ger)
09:20/14:20 J Axelsen (Swe), D Ravetto (Fra), J Janewattananond (Tha)
09:30/14:30 A Maguire* (Irl), M Gandas (Ind), R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra)
12:30/07:30 T Olesen (Den), J Campillo (Esp), R Cabrera Bello (Esp)
12:40/07:40 D Willett (Eng), P Larrazábal (Esp), Y Paul (Ger)
12:50/07:50 P Harrington (Irl), T McKibbin (NIR), T Hoge (USA)
13:00/08:00 T Hatton (Eng), L Donald (Eng), A Scott (Aus)
13:10/08:10 N Colsaerts (Bel), A Fitzpatrick (Eng), M Power (Irl)
13:20/08:20 M Siem (Ger), D Brown (Eng), T Clements (Eng),
13:30/08:30 A Rozner (Fra), D Bradbury (Eng), J Luiten (Ned)
13:40/08:40 N Bachem (Ger), S Forsström (Swe), E Ferguson (Sco)
13:50/08:50 R Hoshino (Jpn), C Shinkwin (Eng), W Nienaber (RSA)
14:00/09:00 E Van Rooyen (RSA), K Samooja (Fin), S Söderberg (Swe)
14:10/09:10 N Elvira (Esp), G Green (Mas), JW Ko (Kor)
14:20/09:20 F Zanotti (Par), S Välimäki (Fin), J Walters (RSA)
14:30/09:30 M Chengyao (Chn), D Huizing (Ned), J Parry (Eng)
10th tee/1st tee
07:30/12:30 R Langasque (Fra), G Migliozzi (Ita), J Smith (Eng)
07:40/12:40 E Molinari (Ita), N Vincent (Swe), T Detry (Bel)
07:50/12:50 S Lowry (Irl), MW Lee (Aus), R Fox (NZL)
08:00/13:00 R McIlroy (NIR), A Meronk (Pol), B Horschel (USA)
08:10/13:10 T Bjørn (Den), R Højgaard (Den), A Björk (Swe)
08:20/13:20 T Lawrence (RSA), D Hillier (NZL), A Rai (Eng)
08:30/13:30 M Baldwin (Eng), C Syme (Sco), O Strydom (RSA)
08:40/13:40 J Gough (Eng), M Kawamura (JPN), C Hill (Sco)
08:50/13:50 R Fisher (Eng), J Donaldson (Wal), J Catlin (USA)
09:00/14:00 J Scrivener (Aus), M Wallace (Eng), S Kjeldsen (Den)
09:10/14:10 N Nørgaard (Den), J Guerrier (Fra), N Kimsey (Eng)
09:20/14:20 M Helligkilde (Den), B Easton (RSA), M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra)
09:30/14:30 10 A Wu (Chn), W Besseling (Ned), L Nemecz (Aut)
12:30/07:30 A Del Rey (Esp), M Jordan (Eng), J Morrison (Eng)
12:40/07:40 J Freiburghaus (Sui), D Van Driel (Ned), C Hanna (USA)
12:50/07:50 P Waring (Eng), S Tarrio (Esp), S Crocker (USA)
13:00/08:00 JC Ritchie (RSA), F Schott (Ger), K Higa (JPN)
13:10/08:10 C Lee (Eng), A Saddier (Fra), J Dantorp (Swe)
13:20/08:20 R Ramsay (Sco),J Winther (Den), S Sharma (Ind)
13:30/08:30 L De Jager (RSA), A Hidalgo (Esp), A Arnaus (Esp)
13:40/08:40 D Law (Sco), D Gavins (Eng), M Southgate (Eng)
13:50/08:50 M Armitage (Eng), A Levy (Fra), J Veerman (USA)
14:00/09:00 O Bekker (RSA), M Schmid (Ger), M Schneider (Ger)
14:10/09:10 K Krogh Johannessen (Nor), Z Lombard (RSA), A Wilson (Eng)
14:20/09:20 S Garcia (Esp), M Warren (Sco), M Simonsen (Den)
14:30/09:30 V Dubuisson (Fra), R Hisatsune (Jpn), K Aphibarnrat (Tha).
What is the Irish Open winner’s prize?
The winner’s prize at the 2023 Irish Open will be just under a million euro, €974,605 and a prize fund of €6 million is spread over all players who make the 36-hole cut.
What is the weather forecast?
The hot weather of early September in Ireland will continue during the week in Kildare with some spells of sunshine and heat throughout with highs of 24 degrees. There are some scattered showers expected, however, and given the temperature there is the possibility of thunderstorms.
