It’s essential in these torrid times to avoid quibbling and griping about matters of limited importance and golf, of course, fits very neatly into the less-than-vital category. But if we make certain to keep any disappointment well within the confines of suitable context, there is an absolute truth to acknowledge ahead of this year’s Irish Open which is that when the tournament is not held by the seaside it immediately feels a little less perfect that it ought to.

The Irish coastline boasts some of the world’s greatest courses and in the last few years alone we’ve been treated to the brilliance and beauty of Lahinch, Ballyliffin and Portstewart. The last of those is but a short distance from Royal Portrush, host of last year’s joyous return of the Open to Northern Irish shores, and both of them are not too far from this week’s venue, Galgorm Castle Golf Club in Ballymena.

It’s a parkland layout, opened in 1997 and is a perfectly nice place to play 18 holes, but I’m rather reminded of an American visitor I once fell into conversation with in Dublin who was mortified that his party’s next round of golf would be played on an inland test. “I haven’t flown across the God-damned Atlantic to play a course we’ve got at least four thousand better versions of back home,” he growled into his Bushmills, adding with surprising menace: “I’m going AWOL tomorrow.” Possibly the first, and last, time anyone has viewed hitting the linksland as something akin to going rogue in the jungles of Vietnam.

No such options exist for the competitors this week and nor should there be as the Tour continues to provide a schedule for them, and entertainment for us, from within the bubble. Galgorm Castle stepped in at the last moment to replace Mount Juliet and is to be congratulated for being both willing and able to do so. Indeed, it’s been a popular venue for the Challenge Tour’s Northern Ireland Open every year since 2013 and it was only last month that Arizona-based mini tour journeyman Tyler Koivisto completed an astonishing victory in the most recent renewal.

The 27-year-old entered last year’s Qualifying School, but got no further than the first stage. Yet amid the chaos of 2020 that effort did unexpectedly earn a late call to Galgorm. Not for Koivisto his compatriot’s disdain for heading inland. Instead the Game of Thrones fan (the series is filmed in Northern Ireland) explained that he was “carefree and at peace, not worried about results and expectations” as he thrashed a third round 62 to take a three-shot 54-hole lead. “My mom was freaking out,” he explained, as she hit the refresh button all Sunday, witnessing from afar a win that has transformed his golfing life. He will return to the scene of his triumph perhaps barely able to comprehend what has happened to him.

He’s not alone in having happy recollections of the track. Past winners teeing it up this week include Jack Senior, Calum Hill, Robin Sciot-Siegrist, Joakim Lagergren, Clement Sordet and Daan Huizing. The roll-call of past champions is completed by Ryan Fox, a Kiwi with great fondness for the Emerald Isle (he’s finished second and fourth in the Irish Open, and was tied third after 18 holes at Royal Portrush). His chances were considered, but his experience at the U.S. Open, where he shot 74-85, was off-putting. So, too, was his difficulty keeping at least one damaging round off his tournament card this summer.

First pick, therefore, goes to a man with less obvious form at the course – England’s AARON RAI. The 25-year-old from Wolverhampton previously played Galgorm during his consistent rookie campaign on the 2016 Challenge Tour and it was a promising effort. He opened with a 68 and then added 69-67 at the weekend – it was only a Friday 72 which kept him out of the top ten, eventually recording T23rd. I also grant that performance some leeway because the week before he had been contending for what would have been his first win on the second tier.