Three venues for new-look NI Open in July

The 13th edition of the tournament will be played over three venues and forms part of the Clutch Pro Tour for the second year from July 4-6.

The first round will take place on the headland of Cairndhu Golf Club where Kinsale’s John Murphy won on his professional debut in 2021 to deny local favourite Dermot McElroy in second, with England’s Thalia Martin claiming the women’s title.

The championship links at Castlerock Golf Club further along the coast will host day two before a two-round cut takes place and qualifiers compete at Galgorm for the third and final round.

This year amateurs and celebrities will also compete alongside male and female professionals in an event similar in format to the successful Alfred Dunhill Links Championship played annually in Scotland on the DP World Tour.

In this revamped format for the NI Open, 104 professionals will compete in a 54-hole stroke play tournament, while a two-person Pro-Am team event (104 pairs) will run simultaneously.

Amateurs will experience the pressure involved in trying to ‘make the cut’ with the top 10 Pro-Am teams progressing to Galgorm for day three, alongside the top-60 professionals.

Last year’s winner Murphy, who will compete at this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the PGA Tour, said: “The NI Open was a great opportunity to kickstart my pro career and get me ready for what was to come.

“The NI Open was run incredibly well and the initiative to offer tour starts [into the ISPS HANDA World Invitational] is amazing. It benefited me and I’m delighted this opportunity continues for players.”

The NI Open will have a prize fund of £15,000 for the professionals and is also a pre-qualifying event where the leading players will earn a place at the ISPS HANDA World