Killeen Castle to host Irish Challenge HotelPlanner Tour for three consecutive years
Frenchman Oihan Guillamoundeguy overturns three-shot deficit on final day to secure maiden victory
After a successfulfour days of competitive golf in Dunsany, Killeen Castle is to remain the location for the Irish Challenge HotelPlanner Tour for 2026, further cementing its reputation as one of Ireland’s leading golf destinations. The announcement sees the course hosting three successive years of the Irish Challenge, after it was initially named as the venue for the 2025 and 2027 editions last September.
Last week, the castle venue hosted its first men’s professional event, with Frenchman Oihan Guillamoundeguy overturning a three-shot deficit on the final day to secure a maiden HotelPlanner Tour victory. The 20-year-old carded rounds of 71-67-69-70 to end the week on 11 under par.
The Christy O’Connor Jr Memorial Trophy for leading Irish player went to Robert Moran on Sunday after his impressive weekend on the world-class course. Moran also received an invitation to the Amgen Open in September.
The official tournament course record off the tips is 71 – one-under-par – and the honour was previously held by an amateur. Over the course of the tournament last week, this record was shattered by Denmark’s Jeppe Kristian Andersen, who now holds the record of 65, on what the players consider to be “the best course of the tournament”. Andersen was awarded a €1,000 voucher for Killeen Castle for setting their new course record.
Philip Rock, general manager of Killeen Castle, said: “We’re delighted to see the Irish Challenge return to us here at Killeen Castle in 2026, especially after a brilliant debut in the HotelPlanner Tour schedule last week. The estate offers one of the finest golfing experiences in Ireland and we have received great feedback from all of the competitors, so we are sure that they will relish the opportunity to once again compete on the magnificent Jack Nicklaus Signature Course. We are grateful to all of our team that were involved and we’re incredibly excited to host the tournament round over the next two years.”
Over the course of four days, Killeen Castle welcomed a record-breaking number of visitors to the HotelPlanner Tour with 7,500 tickets sold. Golf enthusiasts young and old turned up to the sprawling estate for a fun family day out - with the fan zone overlooking the final hole, local exhibitors and caterers from the Harvest Festival from Dunshaughlin kept the crowd fed, watered and entertained. As part of their sustainability initiatives, Killeen Castle used the plastic bottle returns from their Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) to raise money for the Harvest Festival, which takes place from 26th to 28th September.