NI Open
(July 23-28, 2024)
niopen.golf
The Black Desert NI Open presented by Tom McKibbin relaunched for 2024 and is back on the European Challenge Tour as one of the elevated events on the Tour’s international schedule. The NI Open takes place at Galgorm from July 23-28, 2024 and is FREE ENTRY for everyone.
Register for tickets HERE. McKibbin has given his full support to the event that will be played at the same venue where he is also the Touring Professional. McKibbin enjoyed his breakthrough win in 2023 at the Porsche European Open on the DP World Tour.
Galgorm is Northern Ireland’s premier tournament venue and the NI Open was first played at the Ballymena venue in 2010 and set all attendance records on the Challenge Tour. Former winners include 2023 DP World Tour Golfer of the Year Ryan Fox from New Zealand. The 2024 NI Open will be a family-focused event that will include the Junior NI Open.
The 2023 NI Open was part of the new NI Swing in 2023 where a 10-day festival of tournament golf took place at key venues in Northern Ireland and was part of the Mizuno Next Generation Series co-ordinated by the Clutch Pro Tour. The NI Swing carried a total prize fund of £165,000 with the £100,000 NI Open at Galgorm the showcase event where England's Brandon Robinson-Thompson was the 2023 winner. He also secured his place in the 2023 ISPS HANDA World Invitational with the win.
The NI Open set attendance records when played on the European Challenge Tour for a decade. Until 2021, the NI Open was played at Galgorm every year and has always been one of the most popular stop-offs for players and officials on the international schedule and remains a core tourism event for Ireland.
In 2022, home favourite Dermot McElroy romped to victory and booked his place in the 2022 ISPS HANDA World Invitational. His eight-under total (205) was enough to win by seven from Limerick’s Tim Rice in second. England’s Billie-Jo Smith was the leading female and all three played in the World Invitational.
In 2021 the NI Open moved to Cairndhu Golf Club as the ISPS HANDA World Invitational was being played at Galgorm. Kinsale's John Murphy was a fine winner. with England's Thalia Martin finishing as leading female professionals and McElroy was runner-up to Murphy. In 2020, little-known American Tyler Koivisto came to the fore by producing sensational golf for the week to win his first professional title by becoming the NI Open champion.
