The focus all year has been on the stars of our game, and rightly so, but this week sees the next generation of Irish professionals try to showcase their talents.
The South course at the K Club will play host to the DP World Challenge Tour this week. It is part of a six-year commitment to European professional golf that will see three tournaments from both tours take place at the Straffan venue through to 2027.
The star Irish players trying to get to the top 20 at years end and thus avoid the qualifying school are Tom McKibbin, Ruaidhri McGee and John Murphy.
The supporting cast is quite vast but of yet has not shown enough to be dreaming of the big Tour next season.
On the Challenge Tour, the hardest part is to get off it the right way. It can be many things - including a graveyard for former top tier players and a reality check for younger players that they are not good enough to cut it at the elite level.
If you cannot cope at this level then hopes of making a career in the sport are slight.
Team Ireland is truly remarkable in terms of their financial commitment to these players that gives them the chance to live out their golfing dreams.
On paper, McGee and McKibbin are our best chance of a home victory. A win for either will almost guarantee a place on the main Tour next season.
It is also a chance for those on the next ring removed to achieve many things, even if it is just trying to keep status on the Challenge Tour or reaching the automatic spots to gain access to the qualifying school.
But to miss out at the pre-qualifying stage leaves one in a precarious position for next year.
For others, it is a great chance to play for a lot more money with a €250,000 purse - which is massive compared to the Euro Pro and Alps Tours.
Gary Hurley and David Carey - the latter recently made the cut at The 150th Open Championship - are both performing well and this is a big chance for them to catapult straight onto the Challenge Tour with a big week.
The K Club setting will make the players feel like that it is a big-time tournament and that very fact can help to inspire. The home players will need to enjoy the spotlight of the home crowd.
It is a great opportunity also to come out and watch the next generation and realise how high the standard is on this Tour. Spectators will be treated to some quality golf and hopefully we can get a strong showing for the home challengers.
Clarke the man at Senior Open
The British Seniors Open reminded me of how great and colourful the European Tour was back in the day. It was wonderful to see so many past champions in Gleneagles still playing some wonderful golf.
With ridiculous sums of money swashing around the game in recent times, the Seniors Open was a reminder what true sport is about.
Darren Clarke showed his golfing class to complete the Open double after his historic victory at Royal St Georges in 2011 and Gleneagles proved a wonderful setting for this fabulous tournament.
