Major boost for Kilkenny as Irish Open Golf returns to Mount Juliet

Kilkenny city and county received a major boost on Monday when Mount Juliet golf course was confirmed as the venue for the 2020 Irish Open Golf Championship.
It is worth millions of euro to the local economy and will expose the area to a global television audience that runs into tens of millions.
It will be staged from Thursday, May 28 to Sunday, May 31 and will fill every hotel, guest house, restaurant and B&B in the region.

Many golf aficionados feel that Mount Juliet is the spiritual home of the competition having successfully staged it in 1993, 1994 and 1995.
Basque superstar, John Rahm will return to defend his crown, while previous host Rory McIlroy will be in attendance having missed this year's event.

The Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at Mount Juliet has a prestigious history in hosting major golf events and producing world-class champions, beginning with those three editions of the Irish Open. In 1997, Mount Juliet played host to Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf, a challenge match between Tom Watson and Fred Couples, won by Fred.

In 2002 and 2004, the world-class parkland course hosted the world’s best players for the WGC-American Express Championship. Tiger Woods emerged victorious in 2002, beating Retief Goosen – who shares the Mount Juliet course record with Sergio Garcia – by one stroke, while Ernie Els claimed the 2004 edition, overcoming another European Tour legend in Thomas Bjørn by one shot.

The Nicklaus-designed par-72 course will once again host many of the world’s finest golfers for the 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, which will come on the back of one of the most successful years in Ireland’s golfing history.