Pieters, Poulter and ‘Beef’ join Irish Open field

Ryder Cup stars Thomas Pieters and Ian Poulter, plus fan favourite Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston, are among the latest golfers to be confirmed in the star-studded line-up for the Irish Open.

The European tour event is set to be hosted by the Rory Foundation at Portstewart Golf Club in July.

A plethora of the biggest names in the game will battle it out on another of Northern Ireland’s iconic links courses in what is expected to be the strongest field in the event’s long history.

As the third Rolex Series event of the 2017 Race to Dubai, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open will feature a record US$7m prize fund.

The last two Northern Irish editions of the event sold out and, with just under two weeks to go, tickets are selling fast.

Poulter has become one of the greats of the modern Ryder Cup era, while Pieters made a huge impression on his Ryder Cup debut at Hazeltine National last year.

And Johnston rose to fame last year when he won the Spanish Open at Valderrama, since becoming one of the biggest crowd-pleasers in the game thanks to his sense of humour.

Tournament host Rory McIlroy will return home for the occasion, and to defend the title he claimed in such style last year, while world number two Hideki Matsuyama will make his regular European Tour debut having finished joint runner-up at last week’s US Open Championship.

Fans will also have the opportunity to see rising Spanish prodigy Jon Rahm for the first time, while Olympic Gold Medal winner Justin Rose will play the event for the first time in seven years.

McIlroy said: “This is certainly one of the strongest fields I’ve ever seen for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, if not the strongest. It’s really shaping up for an incredible week.

“Everybody knows how special this tournament is to me and to return to Northern Ireland as defending champion, with my foundation again hosting the event, is real honour.”