Irish Open predictions: Lowry hoping to return home in style
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&w=707&quality=100)
The DP World Tour heads to Mount Juliet in County Kilkenny this week for the Irish Open.
There promises to be a party atmosphere to the event, especially with star trio Shane Lowry, Seamus Power and Padraig Harrington returning home to play.
Australia's Lucas Herbert is the defending champion but the fans in attendance will be hoping for a home triumph for the first time since Lowry earned victory as an amateur at Baltray in 2009.
Shane set to shine
Lowry's attendance will certainly have helped the ticket sales but the 35-year-old is not returning to his native country to make up the numbers.
Some of the highlights of his career have come on the Emerald Isle, including his victory at The Open Championship at Royal Portrush in 2019.
More importantly for Lowry, he arrives in good form, although he does have one blemish on his record of late after failing to make the cut at the US Open.
However, the world No24 has recorded top-10 finishes at the Canadian Open, RBC Heritage, The Masters and The Honda Classic.
If he can replicate that form, Lowry should be the man to beat, and the conditions usually mean players have to be deadly accurate with their irons, something he prides himself on.
Harrington won his first Senior Major last week, while Power managed to finish T12 at the US Open at Brookline.
All three would love to be in contention on Sunday afternoon, but out of the Irish contingent, it is Lowry that has the best chance of making the home fans happy.
Signs look good for Pieters
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Since missing the cut at Augusta, Belgium's Thomas Pieters has improved his game to the same levels he showed earlier in his career.
He has finished inside the top 10 on each of his last three DP World Tour outings, including second place at last week's BMW International Open.
The 30-year-old was desperately unlucky not to win in Germany and he looks full of confidence ahead of this week's event.
Hatton hitting form
Tyrrell Hatton is going under the radar slightly but has performed well in past visits to Ireland.
Consistency has been the Englishman's strength, missing just one cut on the PGA Tour so far this year.
The Buckinghamshire native has the ability to dig in when it matters and with most of the crowd cheering on others in the field, he could creep up the leaderboard this week.