A record purse of £1,500,000
- an increase of about £150,000 - will be on offer at the Smurfit European Open
at The Kildare Hotel & Country Club (K Club) in Ireland from July 6-9.
England's Lee Westwood won
last year's event with a superb closing round of 65 for a 17-under-par total
of 271 - three ahead of Ireland's Darren Clarke, winner of the recent Andersen
Consulting Matchplay event, and Australia's Peter O'Malley.
The Smurfit European Open
again boasts a blue-chip line-up of support sponsors with Aer Lingus, AIB, Ashworth,
Esat Digifone, The Gartner Group, Guinness, Renault and Rolex all on board.
The K Club, located 17 miles
from Dublin and developed by the Jefferson Smurfit Group, will stage the 2005
Ryder Cup match on its Arnold Palmer designed golf course.
