Fantasy Golf: Irish Open preview

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The 2013 Today’s Golfer Fantasy Golf game heads back to the European Tour this week for the Irish Open at Carton House GC, County Kildare.

The 7,301-yard layout is par 72 that features 130 strategically-placed bunkers, narrow fairways and fast and undulating greens.

It may be long but there is a premium on good strategy and straight hitting. Scrambling will come into play because players will make mistakes and miss greens.

The Irish Open was previously held at Carton House in 2005 and 2006 when Stephen Dodd and Thomas Bjorn were victorious.

Here is the six-man Today’s Golfer team for the Irish Open:

Rory McIlroy, £5.5m
The Northern Irishman hasn’t had a great start to 2013 but his class should shine though as he returns to the European Tour this week. He’s 14th on the European Tour for sand saves, which could come in handy this week.

Padraig Harrington, £2.0m
The triple Major champion finished T5 and 11th when this tournament was last at Carton House in 2005 and 2006. He’s shown signs of a return to form and finished T10 at the FedEx St Jude Classic a few weeks ago.

Francesco Molinari, £2.0m
The Ryder Cupper is a sweet ball-striker and finished T5-T9-T21 in his three starts prior to the US Open. He’s 8th on the European Tour for driving accuracy.

Thomas Bjorn, £1.6m
The Dane is the defending champion at Carton House from 2006 and comes into this week with T8-T40-T4-2-2 finishes in his last five events. He’s 11th on the European Tour in putts per GIR.

Joost Luiten, £1.2m
Luiten followed a win in Austria with a T10 at the BMW International Open last week. He’s 6th on the European Tour in driving accuracy and 11th for greens in regulation.

Mikko Ilonen, £0.6m
The Finn is sitting pretty at 7th in the Race to Dubai after winning the Nordea Masters in his last start. His form prior to that reads T2-MC-2-T12 and he’s third on the European Tour in stroke average and putts per GIR.

> The deadline to pick your team for the Irish Open is 7am on Thursday 27th June. See a full list of the field here.

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