The only thing missing from the Irish Open is Happy Gilmore himself

With Rory McIlroy leading the way, this year's Irish Open looks set to be bigger than ever, with a succession of sell-outs making it the hottest ticket on the European Tour.

In fact, we reckon the only thing that could make this week at Royal County Down any more of a draw would be if PGA Tour star Happy Gilmore were to show up and start outdriving and upstaging the field. In absence of Gilmore, SportsJOE has taken some of the best quotes from him and about him and given them to the top men who actually will be teeing it up in Newcastle this week: To Rory McIlroy of course. His Rory Foundation is hosting the event and his good buddies in Dubai have kindly sponsored the tournament and helped bump prize money up to a total of €2.5million. McIlroy, right, has used his powers of persuasion to bring a stellar field to Royal County Down, including from left, Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen (He's not actually coming but he got himself into this otherwise perfect photo - Ed) and Sergio Garcia. We're big Sergio fans here at SportsJOE, but for some reason he does tend to rub some of his rivals the wrong way. Nobody has spent more time focusing on the mental side of the game than Padraig Harrington, and there would be no more popular winner than the three-times major champion. Belgian Ryder Cup star Nicolas Colsaerts is one of the true bombers in the game, averaging a cool 308 yards off the tee so far in 2015. Rickie Fowler has begun to tone down his final round outfits of late, dispensing with his beloved Oklahoma orange entirely as he won the Players this month. Let's hope he goes back to Full Fanta at Royal County Down (and let's hope it's not the closest thing to sunshine we see). To Miguel Angel Jimenez, the 51-year-old Spanish badass that doesn't take crap from anybody. https://twitter.com/AScottPGA/status/594292584798822401 Ok, so Boo Weekley is not playing and has probably never even thought about setting foot in Ireland but how many other golfers have you seen at this craic?