The Irish Open tees off at Ballyliffin Golf Club in County Donegal this week — the first time the tournament has visited the remote county in the event’s long and somewhat peripatetic history.
But if the striking Atlantic coast landscape of the Glashedy Links will be a novelty to the elite field, another part of the setting — the tournament’s framing as part of the lucrative Rolex Series — speaks to a continuing reshaping of the European golfing landscape.
The Rolex Series was announced in November 2016, with the luxury Swiss watch brand augmenting its already prominent branding of golf’s major tournaments and players with a conscious attempt to invest in and boost the European Tour, long in the shadow of its P.