The Northern Ireland Open supported by The R&A will be added to the European Challenge Tour’s 2020 Road to Mallorca schedule from September 3-6.
The event at Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort, which is an established venue on the Challenge Tour, having hosted events every season since 2013, most recently the ISPS Handa World Invitational Men | Women presented by Modest! Golf Management in 2019, will have a €200,000 prize fund and will be the first of two back to back events on the island of Ireland, with the Irish Challenge following on September 10-13 at a venue to be confirmed. This follows the overall Challenge Tour strategy for the reshaped 2020 season of playing events in regional clusters where possible.
The tournament will be supported by The R&A Covid-19 Support Fund, a £7million package to help golf deal with the impact of the global pandemic. The R&A’s Fund is providing an additional £300,000 in support of the Challenge Tour in 2020 on top of its existing annual grant.
Jamie Hodges, Head of the Challenge Tour, said: “We are delighted to be able to add the Northern Ireland Open supported by The R&A to the 2020 schedule as we continue to reshape the season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The R&A is dedicated to supporting golf and its additional support this year has been crucial in helping us to stage this event.
Following the suspension of the season in February, the Challenge Tour re-started with the first of two dual ranking events in Austria last week – the Austrian Open, won by Scotland’s Marc Warren, followed by the Euram Bank Open.
The Northern Ireland Open supported by The R&A is the next scheduled event from September 3-6, with details of further events from September through to the end of the season to be confirmed in due course.
