WATCH – Dates confirmed for JP McManus Pro Am 2020 in Limerick

The JP McManus Pro Am 2020 has been confirmed to take place on July 5 and 6 2020.

Dates confirmed for JP McManus Pro Am 2020 in Limerick

by ilovelimerick correspondent Chloe O’Keeffe

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The JP McManus Pro Am 2020 has been confirmed for July 6 and July 7, 2020, at the Adare Manor, County Limerick. The event promises to be the most star-studded golfing event of the decade.

First teeing off almost 30 years ago at the Limerick Golf Club with 42 competing teams, consisting of one professional and three amateur players. In this first year of the event running, almost €1.2 million was raised for the local charities of Limerick City and county. The succeeding event took place five years after in 1995, attracting many more professional golfers this time around.

The line- up has yet to be confirmed for the JP McManus Pro Am 2020, however it is said to be bigger than ever.

The previous tournament stagings have attracted some of the world’s top golfers, from Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington- both personal friends of JP, also Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and John Daly, to name a few! In 2010, approximately 80,000 spectators attended the two-day event and some of the sportsmen and celebrities included AP McCoy, Gary Linekar, and Michael Douglas.

Speaking to ilovelimerick during the 2010 pro-am Irish-American actor, Aidan Quinn spoke of how being invited to the Pro Am is “golfer’s heaven,” whilst the king of the dance, Michael Flatley spoke of how it was a “dream come true for any golfer,” and spoke of how JP has done “sensational” things for Limerick and for Ireland.

The prestigious golfing event has gone from strength to strength since the very first event in 1990 and has raised a total of €140,565,878 (€45,000,000 from 2010 alone!) with the proceeds going to various charities. The tournament boasts that the success from the charity classic stems from the “genuine interest invested… by all parties including golfers, volunteers, supporters, media, and the public.” Since 1990, many charities and non-profit organisations have benefited massively from the Pro-Ams, such as Brothers of Charity, Charleville & District Association for the Handicapped, Limerick Youth Service, and Milford Hospice Limerick, to name a few!

The JP McManus Pro Am 2020 will not only anticipate as much support as ever in its sixth staging but will also be the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the tournament. Speaking of his memories of the previous three Pro-ams, Padraig Harrington spoke of how the tournament has gone from strength to strength over the last three that he has attended in raising valuable funds for many worthy charities. Harrington speaks of the laughs and fun had over the two days whilst keeping in mind the key element of raising funds to benefit those in need.

The tournament will take place on The Golf Course at Adare Manor which has undergone extensive renovations since the last pro-am. Following an information meeting at the Adare Manor in early January the Pro-Am committee proposed a couple of new rules for the non-profitable organisations that were interested in getting involved in the JP McManus Pro Am 2020. 

All groups will have to hold a golf classic and raise at least €12,500 to reach to the next stage of qualifying to become a beneficiary of the 2020 event. At the meeting, Noel Earlie of the pro- am committee stated that multiples of each €12,500 raised will qualify two teams. The money for the classics must be raised by an entry fee per person of €100, unfortunately, no business or personal sponsorships will be accepted at this time. The JP McManus Pro Am 2020 committee have agreed that they will take care of the prizes of first, second and third places for these classics, with any other prizes being at the discretion of the organisations holding the classic. These classics are said to be staged between April 2018 and April 2020, with the grand qualifier being held in the Adare Manor on May 28 and 29, 2020 just over a month before the Pro Am takes place. 

As well as hosting a classic, the non-profitable charities and organisations are expected to propose to undertake an important capital project within the Mid-West, which will then be approved by the Pro-Am committee. 

However, an organisation does not need to hold a classic in order to be seen as adequate to receive funding from the tournament, as if they propose a project that is seen to be important enough a group may still prove eligible for some funding. 

Through the success of the Pro Am over the years, the 2020 qualifier classics will be stricter on the competitors, with a requirement of an official certificate from the home clubs, the Golfing Union of Ireland or the Irish Ladies Golf Union stating the current handicap of the individual.

Following the success of the 2010 colour scheme the professionals will have blue tees, the amateur men will have white, and the amateur ladies will be wearing red tees. As the Pro-Am is not your average sporting event, the organisers have replaced the standard ticket with a unique entrance permit. For the JP McManus Pro Am 2020, this will be channelling this idea, this time transferring the baseball cap to a traditional golfing flat cap to further encourage the enthusiasm.  By purchasing one of these caps, spectators are not only helping local charities but also receiving a souvenir they will be able to keep. These caps will be on sale in April.

The running format of the event is that there will be one professional golfer to three amateur partners on each team. The professionals are to play an individual 36-hold stroke, the team event is said to be a 36-hole team with the one best net score to count at each hole. There will also be a daily team competition.

Speaking to ilovelimerick.com, Diana McCabe spoke of the organisation that goes into the tournament, but says the JP McManus Pro Am committee are always very fortunate to have “hundreds of volunteers work tirelessly behind the scenes in order to make it happen.” 

For more stories about JP McManus go here. 

For more information about the upcoming 2020 Pro-Am go here.