The 2010 Open championship winner, Louis Oosthuizen, will spend two extra weeks in Ireland in preparation for the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush.
The South African has added the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Lahinch Golf Club to his schedule in his first return to competitive golf in the country for 10 years.
The final Major of the 2019 season will be hosted in Northern Ireland two weeks later.
‘I’m really looking forward to getting back to Ireland and playing links golf again,’ said Oosthuizen, who lost out in a playoff at The Open in 2015 to Zach Johnson.
‘It’ll be three weeks of links golf. Playing in America, you lose the feel of links golf and you need a proper links course to get those low, running shots back.
‘I’ll be over there in Ireland for three weeks and I’ll have the family with me, so it’ll be fun. I’ll spend the week playing links golf, the week in between taking a break with the family, drive around Ireland, go along the West coast all the way up to Portrush. It should be fun. I don’t know much about Lahinch – I spoke to Paul about it and he’s really been telling me what he’s trying to achieve and how the golf course will look. It’s great seeing Paul be really passionate about the tournament. He’s emailing me a lot and talking to me about it and I’m really looking forward to going.’
The South African joins 2018 Ryder Cup star Tommy Fleetwood, former Masters Champion Danny Willett and former World No 1 Lee Westwood in the field for the second Rolex Series event of the 2019 Race to Dubai.
Home fans will be cheering on Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry in the event, which is hosted by 2014 Ryder Cup winning captain Paul McGinley.
Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images
