September is all about golf in Europe and after Monday's Ryder Cup announcement, three members of the home team are in the field for the Irish Open before the whole squad gets together at Wentworth next week.
The Irish Open might not quite have its Rolex Series pizzazz at the moment but that's a problem easily solved by the return of Rory McIlroy, who has done more than his share for the event down the years but has evidently felt that its summer slot didn't always align with his Open Championship preparations.
Now it's here, the precursor to Wentworth and then to the Ryder Cup in Rome, McIlroy returns alongside Tyrrell Hatton and Shane Lowry to add genuine star power and that's just on the European side, with Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee and Billy Horschel adding an international flourish. And Tom Hoge, who presumably flew economy class.
While the timing explains McIlroy's return, the course is the cherry on the cake. The K Club was, until recently, the scene of his most memorable finish as he sent a towering five-wood to the 18th green and holed the eagle putt. The leaderboard tells you McIlroy won by three but he'd been behind with three to play before closing it out with a moment of real magic, surpassed only by what happened in Scotland in July.
That looks a good starting point and so does the fact that he's a metronomic hitter of greens, ranking first both this year and last. Smith is an out-and-out flusher who would've developed into a Ryder Cup candidate had he harnessed the putting touch discovered in Portugal last year.
As it is that club continues to hold him back but this relentless tee-to-green test gives him a fighting chance with a half decent week on the greens, a comment you could apply to the water-laden and difficult Green Eagle where he won in 2017. That's among those parkland courses I think guides us, Matthew Southgate among those in the mix at both.
Detry's rookie season on the PGA Tour was a real success built on a strong start and missing just four cuts, three of them narrowly, tells you how solid he's been. It's certainly fair to say it's been the best year of his career, despite an absence of high-profile finishes, and he's gained strokes in all departments.
Historically a strong putter, he's improved his long-game of late and I'm convinced he has a title like this in him, even if we have to acknowledge that he was thoroughly disappointing when contending for the Soudal Open title on home soil back in the spring.
More recently, three rounds of 64 in his last four appearances are part of a collection of hints, including a big move throughout the middle rounds of the Open, a recovery job in the St Jude Championship, and strong starts to both the Scottish Open and the Wyndham in a run of eye-catching efforts.
Horschel's swing changes left him in disarray for the first time in a decade and resulted in that tearful interview at the Memorial, where he was embarrassed by his title defence. But perhaps prompted by that low, he's since reversed course and got back to basics, and it seems to be working.
Since missing the cut in the Open, which is about what you'd have expected, Horschel has been 13th and fourth in two decent PGA Tour events. Crucially, he ranked seventh and 17th in strokes-gained off the tee and from one to the next his approach play took a major step forward, too.
Now, this of course is a reflection of the depth of this field and the class at the top of it, but Norrman is a serious talent who should kick on from that performance in Kentucky.
Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen could also bounce back after a quiet week at Crans but I'll stick with the Swedes, who have an excellent record in this event and at the K Club for whatever that's worth, and suggest SEBASTIAN SODERBERG next.
Although not the most reliable, Soderberg's ceiling is much higher than his typical position in the market. He's a winner at this level, beating McIlroy and others in a play-off in Switzerland, and is unfortunate not to have doubled up having been second on four subsequent occasions including behind Matt Fitzpatrick and Victor Perez.
One of those was at Yas Links in a Rolex Series event, further evidence that when he's good he can be very good, and another was at the Belfry, when of course pipped by Olesen, who was 10th here in 2016. The courses certainly have a similar aesthetic and Olesen is far from the only player to have produced at both.
First and foremost he played really well at the Walker Cup, taking the best US player to the 18th hole, beating arguably the second-best US player comfortably in the most one-sided match of the week, and also picking up a foursomes win on Saturday.
"I have so many cousins all over the place, aunts and uncles, you’d struggle to remember the names there’s that many of them, but seeing them here, it’s unbelievable, because they don’t get to see me play golf a lot," he said. "Having them here and to pull through and get the trophy, definitely felt like a home event with the support I had. It’s a special place to do it for me."
No doubt he'll enjoy plenty more support this week and, buoyed by his display in the Walker Cup, it's possible that he can do as he did in the British Masters and put himself in the tournament. From there, the next challenge would be seeing it through better, but at massive odds I don't mind finding out if he can do something special in an event where special things happen.
Posted at 1100 BST on 05/09/23
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