Four to follow at the Irish Challenge

With a host of Irish players aiming to impress on home soil at this week’s Volopa Irish Challenge hosted by Mount Wolseley Hotel Spa and Golf Resort, we’ve decided against picking one over the other and instead have selected four visiting stars to watch out for this week.

<strong>Jimmy Mullen</strong>

With four of the five Irish Walker Cup team members from Great Britain and Ireland’s triumph over the USA last month present, it would be a mistake to overlook this Englishman, who recorded a 100 per cent points record in that victory at Royal Lytham and St Annes.

His star rose even higher last week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, after he shared the overnight lead after both of the opening two rounds to prove he can cut it among the very best in the game.

The 2015 Welsh Open Stroke Play Champion will surely be able to put that incredible experience to good use on his European Challenge Tour debut this week.<br /><br /><strong>Borja Virto Astudillo</strong>

The Spaniard was in the frame to clinch a second Challenge Tour title of the season over the beastly Olgiata Golf Club at last week’s EMC Golf Challenge but a final round 76 meant he dropped to finish in a share or sixth place.

He will no doubt take plenty of confidence from that performance though, and he certainly needs some big results as the season reaches the business end and the battle for the top 15 in the Road to Oman Rankings intensifies.

The 24 year old sits right on the bubble in 15th place and a top 20 at the Northern Ireland Open in August, which included a 64 in the second round, shows he is pretty comfortable on Irish soil.<br /><br /><strong>Gary Boyd</strong>

Fresh off a hugely important result last week in Italy, a runner-up finish which moved the Englishman to sixth in the Road to Oman, Boyd will be buoyant heading to Mount Wolseley this week as a turnaround season in his career nears a successful conclusion.

The former Kenya Open winner is close friends with Ian Poulter and, although he would likely love to be playing at the British Masters supported by Sky Sports where his mate is the tournament host, with the pressure almost completely off this week, he could flourish.<br /><br /><strong>Clément Sordet</strong>

Officially the last player to win a Challenge Tour title on Irish soil, the reigning Northern Ireland Open Champion arrives at Mount Wolseley this week on the back of two successive missed cuts in Italy, at The European Tour’s 72° OPEN D'ITALIA presented by DAMIANI and the EMC Challenge Open.

It is only less than a month ago, however, when the Frenchman was competing for one of the biggest titles on the Challenge Tour at the Kazakhstan Open, where he was one shot off the lead going into the final round before falling back to finish in a tie for 13th place.

He came from nowhere to win a maiden trophy back in August and he feels this course is similar to the one upon which he was victorious at Galgorm Castle, so all signs are pointing to a strong week for the curly-haired 22 year old.

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