Five-time European Tour winner Louis Oosthuizen will join Race to Dubai leader Matt Wallace and 2017 Irish Open winner Jon Rahm in one of the groups to watch when the 2019 edition tees off on Thursday.
Rahm, who tied for fourth last year, was in the final pairing last week in Spain but unable to haul in Christiaan Bezuidenhout at Valderrama.
The star trio start at 13:20 at Lahinch Golf Club, long after the 08:40 group that contains reigning champion Russell Knox , Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry, who won the event as an amateur in 2009 and claimed victory at the first Rolex Series event of the year at January’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship Presented by EGA.
‘I’m feeling good, it’s probably the best form-wise I’ve ever come into an Irish Open, but I’m doing my best to try and play down my expectations and just go out there and enjoy it as much as I can,’ said Lowry, the world No 35 and the top-ranked Irish player in the field.
‘I think golfers are like that. We’re not like boxers, we don’t stand there and say “I’m definitely going to win”. I know how fickle this game is and I know as soon as you feel like you have it mastered it can jump up and bite you quicker than you expect.
‘I will have expectations of doing well this week, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t, but I’m just trying to play them down in my own head and just play my own game.’
The trio combine for 10 European Tour victories.
Bezuidenhout starts at 13:45 alongside Italian duo Andrea Pavan and Guido Migliozzi, with all three having won this season.
Oosthuizen and Bezuidenhout form part of a South African contingent that totals 17 this week. Brandon Stone and Justin Harding are among the key players back on European Tour duty along with in-form Erik van Rooyen, who let this title slip last year.
