Royal Co Down

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The Irish Open, currently titled as the Amgen Irish Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament on the European Tour. The Irish Open was first played in 1927 and was played annually, except for the war years, until 1950

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00:00Well, some good and some very bad. But listen, that's what you get when you play in Royal

00:05County Downs. It's such a difficult course. But amazing venue, absolutely loved it. And

00:11to play with the likes of Jimmy Nesbitt and AP McCoy, two absolute legends as well, was

00:15brilliant. So, yeah, really enjoyable. Yeah, good day out and we didn't get too drenched,

00:19which is nice. There's no comparing. But I had a couple of decent shots out there. So,

00:24I mean, listen, we're definitely the amateurs. They're the pros. So I think absolutely no

00:29rubbing of the arm. Golf is not my game. I play that much. I have a seven and a four-year-old.

00:35So it's been difficult to get out onto the course. But over the last month, because I

00:39knew it was coming here, I was wanting to put a bit of practice in. So I've tried to

00:42get a bit more. I mean, it's amazing to think for Northern Ireland and Ireland that a course

00:48that's generally seen worldwide is in the top three, top five, like it's right on our

00:53doorstep. And just with the sea in the side and the morns, it is a stunning golf course.

00:58So yeah, it's a pleasure to be here. I'm having the likes of some really top Irish

01:02golfers here as well. So it's a great spectacle. There's so many people. And we just spoke

01:07about it before, the competition, like whether it be horse riding, acting, golf, even rugby

01:13and so many other areas, really, Ireland packs, it punches way above itself.

01:18No, not really. Yeah, it's good to be home in Northern Ireland. It's been a while since

01:28I've been back. So it's been nice to be familiar with the place a bit. But yeah, I mean, playing

01:35the Irish Open on arguably one of, if not the best golf courses in the world, in my

01:41eyes, is a real treat. We don't get to play this calibre of golf course very often on

01:47tour. So to be able to come and play somewhere like this is amazing. And yeah, I was out

01:55there for nine holes in the Pro-Am this afternoon and the crowds were out there already. And

02:02playing with Tom the first two days as well, it's going to be great for both of us, a great

02:08experience for him as well. So hopefully these sort of stormy squalls blow through tonight

02:16and we can have some decent weather over the week. But yeah, excited to be back and looking

02:21forward to the week.

02:22So how much did you enjoy that, going around Royal Caledon?

02:24Ah, sure, look, it's beautiful. The last time I played Royal Caledon was with Ricky Fowler

02:28at the Pro-Am, the last Irish Open that was here. And the weather was horrific, so I didn't

02:32get to appreciate it as much as I should have done. But it's beautiful. Great company, two

02:37great bros, and obviously playing with Jimmy and Tommy. What more could you want?

02:41How much did you enjoy playing with Jimmy and Tommy?

02:43Great. I play with Jimmy quite a bit. I stay with him in Port Rush a bit, so I do. So I

02:48played Royal Port Rush with him quite a few times. I'm playing with Tommy, who's a big

02:53lad, gets it out there, doesn't play loads, but when he hits it, by God he hits it. It's

02:57the same with all them rugby players, they've got power, haven't they? But it's good, I

03:02played OK. Finished 18-under, wasn't too bad.

03:05It looks like you're hitting it very nicely out there. Are you a key golfer?

03:08Yeah, I love golf, yeah. So I'm very lucky, I'm getting to play in Scotland called the

03:14Dunhill Links in a couple of weeks' time, which is a big thing for amateur golfers.

03:17So I've got that to look forward to.

03:19So you were both in for it?

03:21Both of us were in for it, yeah. Links, golf, can't beat it, yeah. So I'm looking forward

03:24to it. Should be a great crack, you know.

03:26It's glorious to have these sort of courses on our doorstep, isn't it? Like the best in

03:28Northern Ireland, isn't it?

03:29I mean, yeah. I mean, it's classic. I mean, how lucky are people to come and get to play

03:33here, and get to play with the pros that the lads get to play with. Sure, it's great. So

03:36lucky.

03:37And then just one final one. Rory, obviously he's the big attraction this week. How much

03:40admiration do you have for him as a sportsman? How much has he been doing for Northern Ireland

03:43sport over the last 10 years?

03:45Amazing. I think Northern Ireland is very lucky in that, you know, we all go through

03:50a stage when you're a kid that you look at, you know, I queued up outside a sports shop

03:56to get Pat Channing to sign a football for me when I was a kid. You know what I mean?

03:59Or Barry McGuigan, or Dennis Taylor, or Alex Higgins, or whoever it was. The amount of

04:04really good sports people. And Rory is a global superstar, you know what I mean? And at 35

04:11years of age you can only but admire him. But if someone said to him when he was 12

04:16or 13 or 14 that he's going to be playing golf with Tiger Woods and be his best friend,

04:19you know, you don't know what to do. So it's amazing how sport can bring you together,

04:25and can help you live the dream, can't it? Even for him.

04:33So I don't know what they're doing up there, but yeah, it's going to be a really fun test

04:38and, you know, I think it'll be one of the highest winning scores ever in European tournament

04:45this week. I think Paris, I'd probably, will they take a little par and sit here and wait?

04:51Possibly. That's how tough it's going to be. But you know, we have just played and probably

04:57the toughest conditions are Saturday and Monday. Come on, next few days we'll play. Yeah, we'll

05:03see how it goes.

05:04Your history with this event leaves no introduction. Fifteen years ago, since you won as an amateur,

05:08when you looked back, you've been all you've achieved in the game. How much pride do you

05:12put on that?

05:13Yeah, look, obviously that was a week that I'll never forget, when I first started my

05:19career. And you know, since then, I've recorded a lot of my ace in the air shots, but I've

05:24had a couple of chances, you know, currently I was putting here, and I did pretty well

05:27last year again, so I had a chance on Sunday. Yeah, that was great fun. So yeah, I love

05:34the opportunity to go and give it my all. I hope I'm up for the challenge. It's going

05:41to be hard, but yeah, we'll give it a go.

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