Tralee Golf Club, Ireland

“We look forward to welcoming the world’s best collegiate golfers to Tralee Golf Club to play boldly and honour the legacy of Arnold Palmer,” said Amy Palmer Saunders, board chair of the Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation. “In addition to introducing the next generation of young golf talent, this tournament celebrates camaraderie, honour and integrity – the qualities of good character that make a true champion.”

Tralee Golf Club, perched dramatically on the Atlantic cliffs at West Barrow near Tralee, County Kerry, is one of Ireland’s premier championship links courses. Designed by legendary golfer Arnold Palmer, this jewel of Irish golf offers an unparalleled playing experience that blends natural beauty with a world-class challenge.

Since Tralee Golf Club moved to its current location at Barrow in October 1984, Tralee has occupied a site perfectly suited to links golf, featuring towering dunes, undulating fairways, and cliff-top tees with breathtaking ocean views. The front nine rolls along the cliffs, with standout holes like the dramatic par‑5 second and the picturesque par‑3 third. The back nine winds through rugged dunes, offering a thrilling challenge with holes like the unforgettable 16th and a dramatic finishing stretch on the back nine.

As the first European course designed by Arnold Palmer, Tralee holds a special place in Palmer’s legacy. Palmer famously remarked, “I may have designed the first nine, but surely God designed the back nine,” a reflection of the awe-inspiring natural beauty of the terrain. A statue of Palmer by noted sculptor Zenos Frudakis stands near the first tee, honouring Palmer’s vision and contributions to the game. (A twin statue stands in front of Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Palmer’s hometown of Latrobe, Penn.)

Tralee consistently ranks among the world’s finest links courses, captivating players with its unique setting, memorable holes, and raw coastal beauty. It is widely recognised as a must-play for golf travellers and a cornerstone of any golf itinerary in Ireland.

 

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“We are absolutely delighted and deeply honoured to host the 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup at Tralee Golf Club,” said Chairperson Brian Mehigan. “This prestigious event is a perfect match for our world-renowned links, and we look forward to welcoming the world’s best collegiate players to our spectacular course on the Atlantic.”

General Manager Maurice O’Meara added, “It’s a privilege for our club to play a part in continuing Arnold Palmer’s incredible legacy. We eagerly anticipate showing players, coaches, and fans from around the world the warmth of our welcome and the unforgettable challenge of links golf at Tralee.”

In addition to its world-class course, Tralee Golf Club offers outstanding facilities including a state-of-the-art practice academy featuring advanced training technology, a par-3 short course, indoor simulator, and a driving range. The clubhouse offers panoramic views and fine dining, creating an experience as refined off the course as it is on it.

Founded in 1896 and relocated to its current home in 1984, Tralee Golf Club has evolved into one of Ireland’s most distinguished golf venues. With over 1,300 members and a warm welcome extended to international visitors, the club is renowned for its rich history, dramatic setting, and unwavering commitment to the game of golf.

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The Irishman made two eagles and six birdies in his career-low round to reach ten under par and move four clear of two-time DP World Tour winner James Morrison.

The 23-year-old, starting from the tenth, made the perfect birdie-eagle-birdie start to his opening round, before adding further gains at the 15th and 18th to turn in 29.

Kennedy birdied the first and fifth holes before a second eagle of the day at the par-five seventh meant he was firmly on 59 watch, needing one birdie with two holes remaining.

He was unable to make a birdie but a brilliant up and down to save par on the ninth – his final hole – ensured he kept his card clean.

“I’m very happy,” he said. “It was a very nice round, I didn’t miss a lot of shots and it was great to make a good par save on the last. It would have been nice to give myself a chance on the last for 59 but still I will take a 60.

“I started on ten and made a nice birdie there. I hit driver, six-iron to eleven and made a 45-footer for eagle that was pretty good. On the seventh, my 16th, I hit three-wood, four-iron to 20-feet and made a nice putt there too for eagle.

“I never try to attack pins I try to play conservative but sometimes you pull or push it towards a hole, and you know it’s your day.

“I hit it pretty well today from tee to green and gave myself a lot of chances, so I was happy with that.”

 

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Kennedy arrived in Brittany full of confidence having recorded his season best 11th placed finish at the Raiffeisenbank Golf Challenge last week and he believes the layout at Golf Bluegreen de Pléneuf Val André is well suited to his strategic approach.

“I was very confident coming into the week because I had my best finish last week in Czech so my game is heading in the right direction,” he said. “I feel really comfortable with where I’m at.

“You can be conservative or aggressive on this course. I’m more of an aggressive player off the tee and I left myself a lot of wedges and gave myself a lot of chances.”

Here’s the prize money breakdown for each golfer at the 2025 Blot Play9

Norwegian Baard Skogen sits in third position on five under par, while Ireland’s Mark Power and Belgian Matthis Besard are a shot further back in fourth.

The second round of the Blot Play9 will get underway at 7:50am local time, with Kennedy teeing it up alongside Spaniard Borja Virto and Frenchman Edgar Catherine at 2:10pm.

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I was quite young when I was introduced to golf. My dad was a professional himself and the Head Pro at Portmarnock for 26 years, so ever since I was a kid, he was trying to put a golf club in my hand. Growing up at Portmarnock, we had so many Irish Opens that I was just earwigging with the pros all the time, so I was fortunate to see all the greats come through the door.

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I was always interested in playing golf, then at the age of 13, I got more serious about wanting to do well in the game. Which was tough, because in secondary school, you’re weighing up what you want to do with your life. Sport had always just played such a huge role in my life; I dabbled in everything growing up. Tennis was huge; both my brothers are tennis coaches, so I was lucky that I had a bit of a choice of what to play, and that kind of sporty family just gets the best out of you as everyone’s pushing each other on. Then, having dad so involved in the game when I was growing up just made me want to try to beat him.

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In my amateur ranks, I saw a steady progression most years. I went through all the Golf Ireland programmes, different teams, all the age groups and dabbled with a bit of college golf in the States. I ended up playing in the Walker Cup in 2019 and then turned pro, right in time for COVID! That was tricky for everyone, and I think the most difficult thing for my career was I didn’t have a set place to play, and I was jumping from Tour to Tour, trying to play whenever I could get a chance.

Conor Purcell – Harry Grimshaw

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2024 was my standout year. It was a funny year in the sense that, consistently, I wasn’t as good as I was the previous year, but my better golf was much better. I think the Challenge Tour, now HotelPlanner Tour, really rewarded high finishes. So it was a huge goal of mine to try to get my first win. Then to actually do it at Galgorm was just amazing with all my family and friends to see it happen and celebrate with me. I went through a bit of a tricky patch after the first win because you have that expectation that you should be up near the top of the leaderboard every single week. Obviously, that’s not the reality of golf. But I managed to get myself together and notch up that second win in China, and finish high up on the Road to Mallorca rankings.

Conor Purcell – Getty Images

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It’s funny, though, because I probably had some of my worst moments as a pro last year, as well as some of my best. A tale of two halves. I had a stretch of events where I had never missed that many cuts in a row either. That’s just golf, it’s never the same year to year, week to week, it’s all different, it’s all part of it. You just need to learn how to deal with all the different things that come along with it.

 

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A couple of the Irish guys reached out when I secured my DP World Tour card. It’s always nice to be recognised for having done well, but it’s almost a surreal feeling when you’ve grown up watching all the Irish lads play, then suddenly you’re just playing practice rounds side-by-side with them. That makes it nice to have people to look up to who’ve done so well in the game and know that it can be done.

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It’s really good for me personally to be out here on Tour, but as much as I’m selfish about it, I’d love to have loads of the Irish lads out here with me. It’s hopefully going to be a long career for me, and you want to have good times when you’re out on the road as well. So, I’m looking to get the best out of myself, and I really hope a couple of the lads can join me in the next couple of years, and we can all have a good run at it.

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You never know, the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in 2027 would be a dream. It’s obviously down the road, but I don’t really pitch my goals too far ahead. I’m really trying to get to a place where I’m just focusing on every week as it comes and see what that brings.

Main Image: Harry Grimshaw

READ MORE JOURNEYS:

With Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen: ‘Turning professional is stressful. You never know where you are playing next.’

With Tom McKibbin: ‘Being compared to Rory, is something I have obviously heard for a while now’

With Christofer Rahm: ‘Especially growing up in Spain, people used to think I was related to Rahm’

With Ángel Hidalgo: “I’ve taken down Jon Rahm, now I can take on anyone”

With Ewen Ferguson: ‘I’ve won twice on tour, and there is still no better feeling than winning’

With Garrick Porteous: ‘Winning in Al Ain gives reassurance that you’re doing the right things’

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Spaniard Angel Ayora closed with a 69 to finish in a tie for second with England’s Jack Senior and Finland’s Oliver Lindell while Zhou Yanhan emerged as the highest-placed Chinese after signing for a 64 to finish in a share of fifth place with Sweden’s Niklas Lemke and Felix Mory of France.

Our champion, Purcell reflects on his victorious week in Hangzhou .#HangzhouOpen pic.twitter.com/gqKij2DArS

— HotelPlanner Tour (@HPlanner_Tour) October 20, 2024

Irishman Purcell entered the final round with a share of the lead and started his round with six straight pars. He broke free from the chasing pack with a hat-trick of birdies starting from the par-three seventh at West Lake International Golf and Country Club.

Purcell then left the door open for his closest rivals to close in after dropping two shots on holes 11 and 13. However, the 27-year-old ensured he would clinch the title comfortably as he charged home with three more birdies in his closing four holes for a winning total of 18 under par 266.

“It’s an amazing feeling. Getting the first one was special in front of the home crowd. And I couldn’t have asked for a better second one with so many people watching in what has been an amazing event,” said Purcell, who won his maiden Challenge Tour title at the Black Desert NI Open presented by Tom McKibbin in July.

“It was a nervous start where I just made lots of pars before I got a few birdies towards the end of the front nine. I got a bit slow again on the back nine, made a few mistakes but got myself back in the mindset of making birdies and thankfully a few dropped.”

With his latest win in Hangzhou, Purcell jumped eight places to fourth on the Road to Mallorca Rankings where he is almost certain to seal his promotion to the DP World Tour with only the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by the R&A left to play, getting underway a week on Thursday.

“It’s nice to win one of the elevated events before the grand finals so that I can go over there and enjoy a little bit more. I’m definitely going to celebrate because these wins don’t come around too often. I’m having my family over in Mallorca and really looking forward to it,” said Purcell.

The top 45 players on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, now head Club de Golf Alcanada where they will fight it out for the final 20 cards for the DP World Tour.

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Unlike most weeks where tournament venues often border on boring, Royal County Down is anything but—with blind shots and an unorthodox routing with unquestioned architectural merits. It has ranked as the No. 1 course on Golf Digest’s World’s 100 Greatest ranking in each edition in the past decade, even topping our combined U.S. and international ranking in 2016-2017.

Royal County Down – David Cannon

Tour pros crave predictability: point-and-shoot golf where they know with certainty how the ball will react. That’s what makes links golf is so great—it removes predictability. Royal County Down’s challenge comes from all angles—with snarling bunkers edged by marram grass and shocking elevation changes where you never know where a ball will come to rest.

This is only the second time since 1935 that Royal County Down has hosted the Irish Open (the European Tour also visited the Northern Ireland venue in 2015), and other than a few Senior Open Championships, the only other time Royal County Down would’ve been seen was the 2007 Walker Cup, when coverage of the amateur matches was scarce.

Just like Pine Valley, the No. 1 course in the U.S., Royal County Down had a litany of great golf minds work on it over the years. Old Tom Morris transformed nine holes that were designed by a schoolteacher into an 18-hole course, then some great players had their input over the next few decades, including James Braid, J.H. Taylor and Harry Vardon. Famed architect H.S. Colt created the fourth and ninth holes in 1925, and across the late ‘90s into the 2000s, Donald Steel made significant modernizations, including creating a new short par-4 16th hole and bolstering 17 and 18.

It will be fun to see how Royal County Down plays this week. With some wet and windy conditions in 2015, 2-under was the winning score with Soren Kjeldsen edging Eddie Pepperell and Bernd Wiesberger. Of course, technology has advanced quite a bit, so without the absence of wind and rain, we’ll see how well the course holds up.

Main Image: Stephen Szurlej

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The Irish primary school teacher successfully defended her title from 2023 at her home course of Trump International Dubai, as she carded a winning score of one over par 72 to top the Ladies Division.

Before spending the summer back in her home town of Galway, Aoife had already claimed her maiden World Amateur Golf Ranked victory on the GEM International Amateur Golf Tour at Arabian Ranches Golf Club in May. Form which she was able to carry back home with her over the summer, as she also competed in the Irish Women’s close at Roscommon Golf Club, where she picked up the third spot in the women’s plate.

Jay Mullane – Trump Dubai Summer Open Winner

In the Overall Division, Jay Mullane emerged victorious with an impressive three-under-par 68, two shots ahead of Stuart Cameron and Trump International member Ruvelin Govender, who both finished with a solid level par 71.

While in the Net Divisions, Aaron Lewis dominated the Men’s Division with a five-under-par net 66, while Lisa Brocklebank claimed the top spot in the Ladies’ Net Division with a five over par, net 75.

Images: Trump International Dubai

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But the union of a sport that only returned to the Olympics in 2016 at the Rio Games and the biggest athletic endeavour in the world becomes more enduring when pro golfers take part in the Olympic customs more traditionally associated with athletes from other events. And that will be the case Friday night as a trio of competitors participate in one of the biggest honours of the Games: carrying their home country’s flag during the Opening Ceremony.

“It’s a huge honour for me and my family,” said Shane Lowry upon learning he would be the male representative from Ireland (joined by hurdler Sarah Lavin) serving as flag bearer. “Anybody who knows me knows how patriotic I am, how much I love Ireland and how much I love playing for my country. I always wear the Irish flag with pride.”

Lowry’s golf career includes winning the 2019 Open Championship and playing for Europe twice in the Ryder Cup. He’s also competed for Ireland in several amateur golf competitions, including the World Amateur Team Championship. He also competed in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.

Continuing on being named flagbearer, Lowey said: “It’s something that I’m not sure you’d even dream about as a kid because it’s so far out there. To get to do something like this is something that I will remember forever.”

It’s a huge honour for me and my family. Anyone who knows me knows how patriotic I am, how much I love representing Ireland around the world and playing for my country. Tonight will be special. @TeamIreland #OlympicGames https://t.co/3njokPfYkb

— Shane Lowry (@ShaneLowryGolf) July 26, 2024

Other countries that have publicly revealed a golfer to be their flagbearer are Morocco’s Ines Laklalech and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti, who also did the honour back in 2021 during the Tokyo Games.

No golfers are doing the honour for the Americans, with LeBron James and Coco Gauff representing Team USA. It’s unclear how many of the seven Americans competing in the men’s and women’s golf tournaments will be in attendance on Friday. Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang are playing in this week’s LPGA event in Canada.

The Paris Opening Ceremony will be the first not to take place in a traditional stadium setting but rather along a nearly four-mile water route. More than 6,500 athletes on 85 boats will sail past some of Paris’ iconic landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral.

According to reports, each boat will be on the water for approximately 42 minutes, and once disembarked, the athletes and officials will be immediately transferred to the Trocadéro, where the final part of the opening ceremony takes place, including the lighting of the Olympic flame, which marks the official opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

More than 300,000 people are expected to watch the Opening Ceremony live, including 222,000 on the upper banks of the Seine and 104,000 on the lower piers. In addition, 80 giant screens will be set up around the city, with more than a billion people expected to watch at home

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What?

Tall. Hits the golf ball a mile. Has plenty of trophies to his name…

Christofer Rahm of course. Who else did you think?

Christofer Rahm at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Challenge – Getty Images

You can calm down now.

The former Dubai resident is teeing it up this week in his fifth event on the Challenge Tour this season bringing with it, a bagful of accolades from the UAE. The 6 foot 8 Swede, who studied at the American School of Dubai, has won the 2015 Ras Al Khaimah Men’s Amateur Championship amongst a load of starts on the MENA Golf Tour in Egypt, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Oman.

Christofer’s name is further plastered on trophys in the region including the 2020 & 2021 Els Club Dubai Men’s Open and the 2021 Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club Men’s Open, and the list goes on.

In 2017, he finished third at the Qatar Open Amateur Championship and won the Swedish Junior Strokeplay Championship at Vallda Golf & Country Club, before then graduating from Arkansas State University in 2022 and upon turning professional plied his trade on the Nordic Golf League across Scandinavia where he got his first pro win at the Värmland Open in 2022.

 

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With three titles in the 2024 Nordic Golf League season, capped off after a one-stroke victory at the Stora Hotellet Fjällbacka Open, he earned promotion to the Challenge Tour, where he now plays.

Four out of four cuts made across Denmark, France, the Czech Republic and a tie for 3rd in Spain, has placed Rahm in 53rd spot on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, with the top 20 players come season end graduating onto the DP World Tour in November for the 2025 season.

Rahm tees it up this week at Galgorm Castle Golf Club for the Black Desert NI Open presented by Tom McKibbin.

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