The lucky winner and guest will watch Ireland’s golf greats battle the elements at Royal Portrush and play a few rounds of golf themselves at some of Ireland’s amazing courses.
The 2012 Irish Open will be held from June 28 to July 1 at the Royal Portrush Golf Course on the Co Antrim coast, and will mark the first time the annual event has been held in Northern Ireland in almost 60 years. The decision to move the European Tour event northward for 2012 is due to Northern Ireland’s golfing achievements in the last two years, which have the locals proclaiming: ‘major courses make major winners’. Darren Clarke’s victory in the Open Championship last summer followed successive US Open victories by Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy. Both Clarke and McDowell honed their games at Royal Portrush and both have homes in the area. Alongside double Open Championship and three-time major winner Padraig Harrington, they are all members of the famous club, with Harrington labelling it as his “favourite course in the world.”
“Northern Ireland is ready for a big year in 2012 with the opening of the new Titanic Quarter, the Titanic Belfast visitor attraction and more”, says Jayne Shackleford, Manager of Tourism Ireland in Canada. “It is only fitting that the Irish Open moves north this year so the game of golf also leave its own imprint on Northern Ireland in 2012.”
More than a third of the world’s approximate 150 true links courses are in Ireland. Royal Portrush is among the finest on the island and around the world, and is located at the edge of a beautiful holiday town on a mile-long peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean with panoramic views of the Causeway Coast towards Scotland and the Donegal hills towards the west.
The unique culture and heritage that can only be found in Ireland permeates the area with superb restaurants, quaint local pubs, a variety of accommodation offerings and dozens of other quality golf courses within easy reach, providing the perfect base for golfing tours as spectator or player. World-renowned attractions such as the Giants Causeway, the Old Bushmills Distillery and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge are also close by for visitors to explore.
Note to Editors:
For more information on golfing in Ireland visit discoverireland.com/golfireland
To enter the contest visit http://www.discoverireland.com/ca-en/forms/golfireland/
The Irish Open was last held in Northern Ireland in 1953 and at Royal Portrush in 1947
For more information on Transat Holidays visit http://www.transatholidays.com
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