Pádraig Harrington, Shane Lowry and Séamus Power are excited to tee it up in front of the packed home crowds at Mount Juliet Estate for this week’s Horizon Irish Open. The home favourites will be backed by Irish golf fans in their thousands, with a sold-out weekend and only a limited number of tickets remaining for the first two days, as all three players return to compete on home soil for the first time this year. Harrington, the 2007 winner of this event, arrives in County Kilkenny having secured his maiden Senior Major title at last week’s U.S. Senior Open at Saucon Valley, where he earned a one-stroke victory over fellow former Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker. Power, the World Number 36, returns to his home Open for the first time in three years and the first time since becoming a PGA TOUR winner at the 2021 Barbasol Championship in Kentucky. The highest-ranked player in the field at Mount Juliet is 2019 Open Champion Lowry, who currently occupies 24th on the Official World Golf Ranking, and arrives home off the back of an excellent run of form during which he has missed only one cut in 2022. Australia’s Lucas Herbert will defend the title he won in wire-to-wire fashion at Mount Juliet last year, while Rolex Series winners Tyrrell Hatton, Thomas Pieters, Aaron Rai and Min Woo Lee will also tee it up this week. Make-A-Wish Ireland, the Official Charity of the Horizon Irish Open, will benefit from the Birdies for Wishes initiative this week whereby every birdie on the 18th hole at Mount Juliet during tournament play will result in a €500 donation to the charity. Player quotes: Pádraig Harrington: “It's great to be back after a win. Great to have won on the Champions Tour. I've gone out there for that very reason, to win, rather than play regular events and finish in the top ten. “Coming here, the crowds, it was a nice atmosphere with people congratulating me. I'm sure it will be like that for the rest of the week. It can be tough being at your home Open, especially if you don't play well or you're in the middle of the pack and things aren't going so well, you feel like you're letting down the fans. “I think Mount Juliet lends itself to a great event. It's got a great atmosphere. All the players are on site. So the players enjoy themselves, and with the crowds coming in, there should be a great buzz. Whoever wins here or gets themselves in contention this week will know all about it. I’m looking forward to it. “The fans are out and it's a great week, great venue, Mount Juliet, so I'm going to enjoy myself no matter what, wave to the crowds. “My display of golf today wouldn't give you any great confidence about how the rest of the four days, but 24 hours is a long time in golf so I'm hoping that I'll be well rested by tomorrow.”

Ryan Fox carded eight birdies in a stunning opening round 64 to storm into the first round lead at the Horizon Irish Open, an event at which the Kiwi came within a whisker of winning four years ago. Thousands of fans descended on the County Kilkenny venue as full-capacity crowds returned to the historic national open for the first time since 2019 and, while home heroes Pádraig Harrington, Shane Lowry and Séamus Power were the star attractions as the event teed off, Fox soon took centre stage. The 35-year-old had come agonisingly close to winning this event in 2018, missing out in a play-off to Russell Knox who holed a monster putt to win, and he put himself in the driving seat after the opening round at Mount Juliet with a bogey-free eight under round. That left him a shot clear of Frenchman Frederic Lacroix, Jorge Campillo of Spain, Paraguayan Fabrizio Zanotti and Marcel Schneider of Germany. World Number 36 Séamus Power and Niall Kearney were the leading Irishmen after round one, both carding four under rounds while Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry will enter day two on two under and one under respectively. Player quotes: Ryan Fox: "I'm more surprised, to be honest, than anything else. I've been fighting it on the range the last couple days after the weekend, and certainly didn't look like it early in the round. I made a couple of birdies, but I was scrapping away, and then stop and collect on seven, eight, hit a great wedge shot in there and made a few putts as well. "So just one of those days that I guess patience is -- shows how important patience is in a round of golf, and from first six holes I felt like two-under would have been a great score. And then the last 10 holes, I felt like I could have shot anything, to be honest. "It's just one of those silly little golf feelings, what feels right and, you know, I saw a couple shots. So it was stopping and finishing where I wanted the ball to go. And I always feel like in golf you're probably two swings away from playing really well and two swings away from playing really badly. So I think we're out in the two swings away from playing really well today." Séamus Power: “It was interesting, the putter last week makes you feel better, and a couple of sloppy mistakes coming up to that on the front. But overall very pleased. A lot of good things out there. And I hit enough fairways, hit enough greens, just maybe a couple of putts there. "I'm pretty pleased all around. A little frustrating on 5 and 8, just kind of bizarre kind of bogeys. But besides that, it was pretty good, pretty sharp. So pretty pleased." "The crowds were fantastic. It was good. I mean, for eight o'clock on the Thursday morning, it was great. I mean, I was kind of expecting it, but even still it was pretty cool to see them out there, the support. It was a great atmosphere, and it was nice to make a couple of putts for them."

Jorgo Campillo moved into the halfway lead at the Horizon Irish Open after the Spaniard carded a four under second round 68 at Mount Juliet Estate, where home favourites Séamus Power and Shane Lowry put on a thrilling late show for the jubilant Irish fans. The County Kilkenny venue saw four seasons in a day as heavy rain and cold weather moved in for the afternoon starters, but not before Campillo had set the clubhouse target at 11 under in more favourable morning conditions. Power and Lowry, playing together in front of huge crowds, set off on different paths early on in the tricky conditions – World Number 36 Power embarked on a birdie run of five in seven holes at the midway point of his round to move right into contention, while former Open Champion Lowry struggled to get going and was in clear danger of missing the cut. A stunning finish, however, delighted the local support as Lowry birdied all of the last four holes – finishing in style by holing a 20-footer at the last amid wild celebrations - to make the cut by a shot, while Power also picked up a birdie at the challenging final hole to move to eight under par. The 35-year-old, who grew up less than an hour away in County Waterford, will enter the weekend just three shots off the pace. Recent U.S. Senior Open winner Pádraig Harrington will also entertain the spectators at the weekend after he finished with back-to-back birdies to join Lowry on a three under par total. Player quotes: Jorge Campillo: “I played great over the last two days, so I can't complain. It was great two days. Today was a little tougher than yesterday and I managed to play okay as well, so I'm quite happy about it. “I'm not so good in the rain but the guys from the UK and Ireland, they are quite good, so they still play good. But it’s definitely it's going to play longer. It's harder definitely in the rain and it’s still a little windy. So I think it's going to be a tough afternoon if stay like this. “It's going to be a hard weekend but just looking forward to it. If I can keep putting the ball in play off the tee, hitting good irons like I've been doing, not missing short putts, missed a few today, it will be a good weekend I think.” Séamus Power: “It was a good day. Overall pleased going into the weekend. It was a funny day because I didn't start off - everything was a little loose but from like six onwards I felt very much in control in all aspects so it was a lot of good stuff. “I like the greens. I like the speed, felt like I had a chance of making a lot of putts and that's probably been the strength so far. Everything overall feels pretty good. “It's great to be honest, it's new. I really haven't had anything like that before. It was pretty special out there. Shane with the great finish added to it. It’s sold out for the weekend so it will be more of the same, I’m really looking forward to it.”

Adrian Meronk is aiming to make history as the first Polish winner on the DP World Tour as he takes a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Horizon Irish Open. The 29-year-old birdied three of the last four holes in front of a sold-out crowd at Mount Juliet Estate to move to the top of the leaderboard on 14 under par and place a maiden DP World Tour win in his sights. Meronk has been a trailblazer for golf in his home country having become the first player from Poland to win on the European Challenge Tour at the 57º Open de Portugal in 2018, before going on to become the first Pole to graduate to the DP World Tour later that year. In 2021, he became the first player to fly the Polish flag in a Major Championship when he teed it up at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, and he now sits atop a packed leaderboard in County Kilkenny with second round leader Jorge Campillo, of Spain, currently sharing second place with England’s Jack Senior and Paraguayan Fabrizio Zanotti on 13 under par. The 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry currently leads the home charge, having posted a four under par 68 early on day three to move to seven under, seven strokes off the lead. There were five birdies on the par four 18th hole on day three, adding a further €2,500 to the Birdies for Wishes initiative to bring the running total to €17,000. Player quotes: Adrian Meronk: "I'm quite excited. Just happy with my score so far. Played pretty solid again today. And, yeah, can't wait for tomorrow for sure. "To be honest, the conditions were quite tough. Our first eight holes I would say was just -- the rain was on and off. It was actually raining pretty hard for three holes. So that was quite challenging. But you know, being in contention, seeing all these people, it's quite exciting. "I'll just to stick down, stick to my routine, focus on breathing, and I've been pretty good. I've been working on my commitment for every shot last couple of weeks, and seems like it's working pretty well this week. So I'll just keep doing that, and, yeah, we'll see what happens." Jorge Campillo: “It was tough in the rain, but actually it’s when I hit the best shots. And then the sun came out, and I hit it great off the tee, I think the best of the three days, but my irons were quite terrible. So got some up and downs, I made some great save putts. So I guess I can be happy with the finish, really. This is one of the best tournaments of the year, and many people come and watch this. It's really exciting. I always feel like that I have some good finishes on the Irish Open. It would be nice to win, obviously." John Catlin: "I'm feeling great. It was nice to make a few more putts, hit the ball a little better on the back nine. And was able to give myself more chances on the back nine as well, and made a few of those. The up-and-down on 17 was really nice as well. So, yeah, it was good. It was a good round.

Adrian Meronk became the first player from Poland to win on the DP World after securing an historic three-stroke victory at the Horizon Irish Open. The 29-year-old led heading into the final round but was required to conjure some back nine magic to overhaul clubhouse leader Ryan Fox, who had set the target at 17 under par following an eight under par 64 to close. Meronk, a 2019 European Challenge Tour graduate, found that magic emphatically as he birdied the 15th and 16th at Mount Juliet Estate before rolling in a 24-foot eagle putt at the par five 17th to reach 20 under par, allowing him to enjoy the walk down the 18th fairway to rapturous applause from the sold-out crowd and put the finishing touches to a six under 66. The Pole’s victory is the latest in a long list of historic moments, after previously becoming the first player from Poland to win on a major golf tour with his triumph at the Open de Portugal @ Morgado Golf Resort in 2019, helping him graduate from the Challenge Tour and become the first Polish player to earn full DP World Tour playing privileges. Fox continued his incredible run of recent form by finishing second – his third runner-up finish of the season, on top of a victory at February's Ras Al Khaimah Classic – while South African Thriston Lawrence, also a winner this season at the Joburg Open, was a shot further back in third. Meronk was not the only man celebrating in County Kilkenny, as the American 2020 Irish Open winner John Catlin, Scotland’s David Law and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti booked their places in The 150th Open at St Andrews, as the leading three players not already exempt, the trio finishing in a tie for fourth. Spain’s Jorge Campillo finished seventh on 14 under par, Thorbjørn Olesen was a shot further back in eighth, while 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry finished as the leading Irish player in a tie for ninth on 12 under par. There were a further three birdies on the 18th hole, bringing the total for the week to 37 and raising €18,500 for Make-A-Wish® Ireland through the Birdies for Wishes initiative. Player quotes: Adrian Meronk: “Such a relief to be honest. As you said, I've been coming quite close a couple of times this year, and to finally open the door, it's just a dream come true. That's why we practise every day, and such a relief and so happy. “I love it. I'm not stopping. I'm going to keep going forward. It's another step for me. And I'm excited I achieved it here in Ireland, such a great history, and I'm just super excited. I can't describe it. “To be honest I was imagining this picture yesterday, what it might look like, you know. Looked exactly like how you math inned it. I was just trying to enjoy this moment. It was an unbelievable feeling and to hit such a good shot on the last hole, I'm super proud of myself and my caddie, and yeah, super happy. “It means a lot. As I said before, it's one of my roles to grow the game, hopefully this will help a lot and I'll just keep going”