Irish Open commences today - larger than expected crowds pour in!
On 28th June 2012 the Irish Open 2012 starts. The venue being Royal Portrush Golf Club has a capacity of 27000 spectators.
This is going to be the first Irish Open on the Northern soil since 1953. It represents a ‘home-away-from-home' tie for the local golfers.
The event is going to take place at the Royal Portrush Golf Club. It is said to be the biggest event in the history of European Tours. The four day event has already been sold out for three days i.e. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Irish Open Championship’s director Antonia Beggs in an interview, explaining the hype created about the event said, "We are preparing for a crowd around the 100,000 mark for the week of the Championship, and with a particularly large spectator audience expected
for the weekend, we felt it prudent to stop selling tickets for Saturday and Sunday."
There organizers were not able to believe their eyes when they saw a crowd of 15000 for the traditional Pro-Am.
In the Pro-Am actor, Bill Murray made the headlines. He was the highlight of the show as he kept on amusing the crowd after he started off with Graeme McDowell.
Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill was one of the stars of the show. The enthusiast said, "It's just fantastic to be here. It's so special and the whole tournament is going to be special."
Other stars of the show were legendary goalkeeper Pat Jennings, actor Aidan Quinn and former Open Championship winner John Daly.
This event is bringing many stars at the platform. Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell are two players fans are looking forward to watch play.
Despite his bad performance in the last few matches, McIlory is good form and ready for the tournament. At the Pro-Am, in an interview he said, "Everyone has been waiting a long time for the Irish Open to come back up north, and to have it played here at
one of the best golf courses in the world is fantastic."
Other players competing in the tournament who have caught fans’ eyes are USPGA winner Keegan Bradley, Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke.
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