Harrington local favourite at Nissan Irish Open
IN: News | European PGA | Nissan Irish Open (2006) | Preview | by Bruce Young | 17 May 2006
The European Tour is in Ireland this week for the Nissan Irish Open and this year the tournament is being held for the second time at the Colin Montgomerie designed layout at Carton House Golf Club in County Kildare in Ireland.
The course is one of two at the facility, the other designed by Mark O'Meara in conjunction with European Golf Design. The course measures 7300 yards and carries Creeping Bent greens.
The defending champion is Welshman, Stephen Dodd, who last year who caught and past third round leader Nick Dougherty and eventually won the tournament in a playoff ahead of David Howell.
Padraig Harrington is not only the tournament favourite but, as a local, he will be the crowd favourite this week. He finished fifth in the event last year and, although he has not won in nearly twelve months, he has been playing consistently well in that time.
Paul Casey did not play in this event last year but he has been in contention in just about every event in which he has played of late including top five finishes in each of his last three starts.
Given the personal turmoil his life has been in of late, Darren Clarke continues to play well and his 17th place finish last year at this event has given him a familiarity with the venue.
Michael Campbell missed the cut in this tournament last year which was a surprise as it came after a 4th placed finish the previous week at the British Masters and in the middle of form which was building towards his US Open win. He finished fifth last week at the British Masters again, this time after a one month break from the game, and he will be looking for a significant turnaround in fortunes at this particular venue if he is to do well.
Henrik Stenson could only manage 43rd last year and his form seems to be a little patchy at present. He has missed three of his last six cuts including last week at The Belfry but there has also been impressive performances at the Players Championship when third and at the BMW when runner up. He is a bit hard to predict at present but if he produces his best he could quite comfortably handle this field.
Angel Cabrera seems to be struggling with his form of late and despite having finished third here last year, it is his current form which appears to be his biggest concern.
Ian Poulter has played very consistently without threatening of late but did not play this event in 2005. Colin Montgomerie has the burdens of having designed the course, but Nick Dougherty played so well last year at Carton House that he could be a factor, despite not making the cut last week.
Of the other Australasians, Richard Green appears to be closing in on the sort of form that saw him play so well in Europe in 2005, especially early. He played well enough here in 2005 and comes off a 14th place finish last week at The Belfry.
Peter O'Malley, Jarrod Lyle, who gets a start by invitation, the improving David Bransdon, Marcus Fraser, Brett Rumford, Wade Ormsby and Matthew Millar are the others.
