Rory McIlroy has continued to secure high profile entries for this year’s Irish Open at Royal County Down.

McIlroy’s foundation is hosting the event at Royal County Down from May 28-31 and the world number one has been a major influence in attracting a top-class field, who will compete for a prize fund of 2.5million euro (£1.8million), an increase of 25 per cent from last year.

Reed let the cat out of the bag on the final day of the Masters at Augusta National, also revealing he would compete in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth the week before.

But the addition of Kaymer and Donald means the tournament will feature five players who have been world number one - McIlroy, Donald, Kaymer, Ernie Els and Lee Westwood - and eight major champions in McIlroy, Els, Kaymer, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Paul Lawrie and Jose Maria Olazabal.

Ryder Cup captain Clarke said: “Rory has pulled in a lot of favours and it’s a testament to the high esteem Rory is held that it’s going to be the strongest field for a long time.

“It’s a huge positive for the European Tour to have such a tournament on one of the best golf courses in the world.

New European Tour Chief The European Tour also received positive news this week when George O’Grady’s successor was announced.

The Board of the PGA European Tour is pleased to announce the appointment of Keith Pelley as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective this summer.

This follows the announcement in November 2014 that George O’Grady would be stepping down from the role. Pelley has a deep understanding of the professional athlete, having worked with them for over 30 years across several major sports including the National Football League, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball and the Canadian Football League.

This, combined with his extensive experience in rights management and negotiations; sponsorship creation; television production; marketing; communications; brand development and event management, made Keith the unanimous choice of the Board’s Nominations Committee.

This appointment comes at a good time especially with the recession badly affecting the European Tour over the last few years. Good tournaments such as the Irish Open are essential to the tour’s survival and Pelley experience should ignite fresh ideas again.

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