The Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation is set to begin this week. This year’s tournament has a new date as well as a new venue and a great field.
World No. 3 Rory McIlroy +405 and Masters champion Danny Willett +1750 headline this week’s event. McIlroy has recruited some great talent this year that includes Shane Lowry +1950, Lee Westwood +2850, Graeme McDowell +3050, Russell Knox +2700, Martin Kaymer +4050 and defending champion Soren Kjeldsen +4000.
David Lingmerth +6250, Jeung-hun Wang +6050 and Soomin Lee are three players to keep your eye on. Wang has won two consecutive tournaments in back-to-back weeks, Lee won already in 2016 in only his sixth start and Lingmerth is making his first trip to the Irish Open.
In previous years the event was held at the end of May and often times in June. The earlier date should help with the weather with the forecast this week looking like temperatures in the 60’s, slight chance of rain and moderate winds.
The K Club will host this year’s tournament. The resort has two Arnold-Palmer-designed courses - The Palmer and the Smurfit. The Ryder Cup was held on the former along with The European Open from 1995 to 2003 and again in 2005. It will certainly be a very different test to last year when the tournament was played on the classic and rugged links of Royal County Down. The Palmer is a much more modern, American-style, resort course that measures 7,350 yards. The greens will not be as fast as normal and the fairways are quite generous. Long, straight hitting will do well this week and that should help tournament host, Rory McIlroy, who probably felt cramped at Royal County Down last year.
The tournament is one of the oldest in Europe and dates back to 1927. Four European Tour legends have won it three times – Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie all pulled out the hat trick.
Dubai Duty Free Irish Open golf odds, props and golf matchups are up and ready to play at BookMaker Sportsbook. BookMaker was the first sportsbook to have the live odds and golf matchups available to wager on.
Current Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Golf Odds at BookMaker Sportsbook:
Rory McIlroy +405
Danny Willett +1750
Shane Lowry +1950
Russell Knox +2700
Graeme McDowell +3050
Joost Luiten +3550
Rafa Cabrera-Bello +3050
Bernd Wiesberger +3900
Lee Westwood +2850
Soren Kjeldsen +4000
Matthew Fitzpatrick +4000
Martin Kaymer +4050
Alex Noren +5050
Andy Sullivan +4100
David Lingmerth +6250
Peter Hanson +5050
Ross Fisher +5050
Thomas Pieters +5050
Alexander Levy +6250
Jamie Donaldson +5500
Brandon Stone +8050
George Coetzee +10500
Jeung-hun Wang +6050
Richie Ramsay +6050
Robert Rock +8050
Thorbjorn Olesen +5050
Victor Dubuisson +7500
Andrew Johnston +7500
Bradley Dredge +7050
FIELD - Any other player +185
ODDS ANALYSIS
Tournament host Rory McIlroy +405 has a lot going on this week and will have trouble handling all his responsibilities and play some uninspired golf. He has missed his last three cuts in this event and after an average finish at the PLAYERS and a long flight to Ireland, I see him struggling again this week. FADE Rory!
Irishman Shane Lowry +1950 is my pick this week. He found something in his swing last week that propelled him to a top 15 finish at the PLAYERS Championship and will keep it going this week at a place he has played multiple times and feels comfortable on.
One player to shy away from is Andy Sullivan +4100. His game is in a real funk, posting scores of 80-77 and 77-73 in his last two starts, both times missing the cut. Until the smile returns to Sullivan, I am fading him!
In 14 starts on home turf, Graeme McDowell +3050 has secured just one top ten. He did play well last week at The PLAYERS Championship but the long flight and added pressure to play well at home will leave McDowell once again looking for answers and scratching his head after another disappointing finish.
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The Dubai Duty Free Irish Open golf tournament is scheduled for May 19-22, 2016. The Golf Channel will televise the event live.
