Having competed at amateur status for the past two iterations of the Horizon Irish Open in Mount Juliet, Kilkenny’s Mark Power is turning pro.
The Wake Forest graduate signed off on his amateur career as part of Team GB&I at the Walker Cup in St. Andrews last weekend, winning his match on the final hole but ultimately missing out on the gold with the US claiming another Walker Cup victory.
Now, he’ll be standing toe-to-toe with some of the best in world golf as a professional when he tees off at the K Club in Kildare just after lunchtime on Thursday.
“Playing for the last time as an amateur at (St Andrew’s) in the most prestigious amateur event is pretty special. Huge thanks to the team, our supporters and the massive crowds that got behind us. The atmosphere was absolutely electric, I’ve never experienced anything like it!”, said Power via social media on signing off on his amateur golfing career.
Following two years at Mount Juliet, the Horizon Irish Open is moving to the K Club at least for the 2023, 2025 and 2027 editions.
Play got underway today (Thursday) at 7.30am with the trio of Daniel Van Tonder, Tapio Pulkkanen and Ireland’s John Murphy teeing off. Other Irish interests see Conor Purcell (9.10), Alex Maguire (9.30), Shane Lowery (7.50), and Padraig Harrington (12.50) all take part. One of the big draws this year was Rory McIlroy returning to compete. He was joining last year’s winner Adrian Meronk (Poland) and Billy Horschel (USA) for an 8am start from the 10th.
Mark Power gets his first professional start at 1.10pm from the first tee when he joins England’s Alex Fitzpatrick and Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts for his first 18 holes of the week.
