All eyes are on the home faithful at this week’s KPMG Women’s Irish Open as 16 native stars look to make history at The K Club.
This year’s tournament features a record number of Irish players with nine professionals and seven amateurs taking to the fairways on the Palmer South Course in Straffan, Kildare.
There has yet to be a home winner of the Women’s Irish Open as the event enters its 20th edition (fifth with KPMG as the title sponsor). But with Solheim Cup star Leona Maguire leading the charge alongside a strong core of Ladies European Tour (LET) stars, there has never been a better time to change that record.
“We all want an Irish winner,” Sara Byrne said, the 25-year-old from Cork. “It would be a dream to get any LET win and then at home… Irish people love coming out and watching us but managing those expectations is important as well.”
Lauren Walsh – a rookie on the LPGA Tour this season – echoed her compatriot’s view at the pre-tournament presser as she returns to LET action this week.
“Irish athletes, we always say it, we have the best fans in the world,” the 25-year-old said. “It’s all of our dreams to win an Irish Open and hopefully if we have some fun along the way we can get some results.”
Maguire remains the only Irish player to win on the LET having claimed the Aramco Team Series – London individual event back in 2024.
Since then, the likes of Byrne, Walsh and Anna Foster have all come close to winning registering runner-up finishes on the LET over the last two years. Rookie Aine Donegan also contended at the PIF London Championship last month with Beth Coulter a winner already this season on the LET Access Series (LETAS).
For Maguire, the highest ranked home player in the field, the time has never been better for an Irish player to follow in her footsteps and win silverware on the LET.
“It would fantastic [to have an Irish winner],” the World No 82 said. “What you ideally want is a home winner of your national open. It’s really nice to see so many Irish girls on the LET right now. It’s become really strong. The guys had that for a number of years on the DP World Tour and now it seems the girls have passed them. They’ve dropped in numbers and we’ve significantly gained. It’s a testament to how strong women’s golf is in Ireland right now.
“Aine [Donegan] has been close a couple of times [to winning on the LET]. Sara [Byrne] and Lauren [Walsh] have been close, Anna Foster has been close. We’ve had some Irish flags up the right end of the leaderboard over the last couple of years so yeah, it would be fantastic to see one of us get it over the line this year.”
On the amateur front, Olivia Costello has been afforded a dream grouping as she tees up alongside Maguire and LET Order of Merit winner Shannon Tan from Singapore. The 18-year-old won the Irish Girls’ Amateur Open Championship earlier this year. Anna Abom also tees up at The K Club having won the low amateur award at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open back in 2024.
Walsh said: “There are some amateurs in the field so hopefully they are inspired to follow suit and [we] have another group coming behind us. It’s a credit to the tournament that there are so many playing and it shows women’s golf in Ireland is going from strength to strength. Long may that continue.”
The 2026 KPMG Women’s Irish Open gets underway tomorrow morning at The K Club. Follow all the action throughout the tournament on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook – #KPMGWIO.
