The Irish Open has a new host for 2020 and 2021
The Irish Open will see plenty of changes in 2020 when its spot in the European Tour’s schedule is altered and the venue moves once again.
Mount Juliet will be the site of next year’s tournament which will take place over the last weekend in May.
A string of high-profile Irish and Northern Irish golfers have hosted the Rolex Series event in recent years with names such as Rory McIlroy and Paul McGinley fulfilling the role.
It was unconfirmed whether there would be an official host of future editions and if so, who that would be?
Well the wait is over as Graeme McDowell has confirmed on Twitter that he will be stepping up to host the tournament for the next two years.
His tweet said that he was “honoured” to be taking on the role and urges fans to “stay tuned for more exciting news”.
Honoured to be the #DDFIrishOpen host for 2020 and 2021.
Stay tuned for more exciting news coming soon. #RolexSeries
🎫 https://t.co/LJMCJulrBy pic.twitter.com/VT1YtM4EJG
— Graeme McDowell (@Graeme_McDowell) December 2, 2019
2021’s staging will see the tournament return to Northern Ireland when the tour’s best head back to Portstewart, the site of Jon Rahm’s first of two Irish Open victories in 2017.
Rahm’s second win came earlier this year when he stormed to victory at Lahinch where McGinley hosted.
It could be expected that the Spaniard will return to defend his title in 2020 but with the event moving away from its slot just two weeks before the Open, some may choose not to make the trip.
Joe Hughes
Tour editor covering men's golf, women's golf and anything else that involves the word golf, really. The talk is far better than the game, but the work has begun to change that.
