Sport
Irish Open preview: Sweet on Sugar Shane’s chances
We continue on the DP World Tour as a slightly stronger field heads north for the Irish Open.
Switzerland turned into a happy hunting ground for the Brits last week and for our selection Matt Wallace, who avenged his 2023 play-off loss to grasp victory at odds of 14/1.
Royal County Down plays host to this year’s Irish Open and with two selections from within Great Britain & Ireland, we’re hoping for another successful week.
Rory McIlroy heads the field, but we go south of the border and across the Irish sea with our two selections, as we look to take on the world number three.
Shane Lowry 11/1
Shane Lowry has had a fine season on the PGA Tour and is looking to continue that trend here on the DP World Tour, where he has picked up six wins throughout his career. Seven of his 29 career top 10s on the PGA Tour have come this season, and the icing on the cake was his victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans alongside Rory McIlroy.
Lowry has never won the Irish Open and this year it heads north to Royal County Down Golf Club, where he will no doubt be made to feel at home despite hailing from south of the border.
He sits second in the market at 11/1, headed only by Rory McIlroy, and is certainly one of the leading contenders here this week. His accuracy and natural ability make him a formidable links player, as shown by his performance at the Open back in August.
He finished sixth there and will be targeting another finish in the 6 places available with William Hill here, but that will be the least of his expectations. One of the more accurate drivers on the Tour, Lowry ranks 22nd for driving accuracy which will be crucial here.
The narrow fairways are lined by sand dunes and thick heather, which in true links style are exactly what you want to avoid. His approach game – which ranks 10th in the world – will be more than good enough to get him in all the right positions here, but the only position he’ll be worried about is the top of the leaderboard come Sunday evening.
Aaron Rai 14/1
Usually our second selection comes in the form of a value outsider, but we just can’t leave Aaron Rai out here. The Englishman is having the best season of his life and heads here with every chance as the 14/1 third favourite.
Rai’s game suits the links test down to a tee and he will hope to display that at County Down. He showed just what he can do when finishing T4, tied with McIlroy, at the Scottish Open in August, but was less impressive at the Open a week later when finishing T75.
Stats only tell you so much, but what they do tell us is that Rai’s accuracy both off-the-tee and with the irons will make him a formidable force here. No one on the Tour is more accurate than Rai with the big stick, and he ranks seventh in the world when it comes to strokes gained approaching the green.
He already has six T7 or better finishes to his name this year so ending up in the 6 places available with William Hill is most definitely within reach. Having got his hands on a first PGA Tour title at the Wyndham Championship last month, Rai will be hoping to add a third DP World Tour victory to his CV here.
