{"id":11610,"date":"2026-09-10T12:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T12:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/11610\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T12:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T12:07:11","slug":"what-rory-mcilroy-told-the-masters-chairman-he-wants-to-see-happen-to-the-irish-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/11610\/","title":{"rendered":"What Rory McIlroy told The Masters chairman he wants to see happen to the Irish Open"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"28\" height=\"28\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hitc.com\/wp-content\/themes\/grv-media\/img\/google-discover.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> Follow us on Google Discover   <\/p>\n<p>No one has done more to bolster the Irish Open over the last 15 years than Rory McIlroy. <\/p>\n<p>In the early 2010s, the Irish Open was struggling. It struggled to find a title sponsor, and its purse size could not compete with the biggest events in the world. The event actually relied on the tourism board to fund it. <\/p>\n<p>That was until McIlroy stepped in. In 2014, the Rory Foundation became the official title sponsor of the Irish Open. The purse increased, and he attracted a number of big-name players to tee off in the event. <\/p>\n<p>12 years later, the Irish Open is one of the most popular events on the DP World Tour. But McIlroy has one big hope for the event\u2019s future, which he has discussed with Masters chairman Fred Ridley. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2234167734-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland poses with the trophy after winning the Amgen\u00a0Irish\u00a0Open in a play off during day four of the Amgen Irish Open 2025\" class=\"wp-image-2616934\" \/>Photo by Warren Little\/Getty ImagesRory McIlroy wants the Irish Open winner to receive a Masters invite <\/p>\n<p>The Masters has helped to bolster a number of international events all over the world. Winners of a number of national opens receive an invitation to the next Masters tournament. But not the Irish Open.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s something McIlroy wants to change, and ahead of the 2026 event, he said he\u2019s spoken to Ridley about it personally. <\/p>\n<p>The back-to-back Masters champion was asked if he thinks the winner of the Irish Open should receive an invitation to The Masters, and he replied, \u201cWhat do you think? Of course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI spoke to Chairman Ridley about this a lot, and I really applaud their dedication to international golf and getting behind some of the international opens.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously, the Asia-Pacific Amateur, the Latin America Amateur Championship- they have done great jobs with them, and it gives these exemptions to these larger National Opens.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would certainly sit there and argue The Irish Open\u2019s case with Fred all day. I think, hopefully, at some point, it\u2019s inevitable that that would become a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The event has grown significantly in stature in recent years, and this year McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton make up part of a star-studded cast of players in the field.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s one of the best national opens in the world, and absolutely deserving of a Masters invitation if Ridley can make that work.  <\/p>\n<p>Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox<\/p>\n<p>     <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"28\" height=\"28\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hitc.com\/wp-content\/themes\/grv-media\/img\/google-discover.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> Add to Preferred Sources   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover No one has done more to bolster the Irish Open over the last&hellip;","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_volume":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[332,211,17,43],"class_list":["post-11610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rory-mcilroy","tag-dp-world-tour","tag-irish-open","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-the-masters","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@fogolf\/117246662104543900","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}