The tournament is due to take place at the Rainforest Adventure Golf in the town, which is a suburb of Ireland’s capital Dublin, on February 18 and 19.

It is being organised by the newly-formed Irish Minigolf Association, who are also a member of the World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF).

Irish rugby international Sean Cronin, who plays his club rugby for Leinster and has been capped by his country 56 times, was among those in attendance at a launch day for the event.

The competition will be the first WMF event to take place in Ireland and organisers hope to attract players from across Europe.

Two titles will be on offer at the Irish Minigolf Open - Irish Open champion and Irish National champion – with the total prize fund standing at €3,500 (£3,000/$3,800).

“We are delighted to see our new member Irish Minigolf Association getting off to a flying start for their membership by organising a highly attractive international competition in Dublin at Rainforest Adventure Golf,” WMF sport director Pasi Aho said.

“We hope this competition will encourage a lot of new Irish players to compete at WMF International Championships.”

The competition format will feature an eight round cumulative strokeplay on one of the Rainforest courses.

Five rounds are due to be held on the opening day, with three scheduled for the following day.

The top 18 will qualify for the final round.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for people to discover the sport of minigolf and to learn and compete with some of the best in the world,” Cronin, who is an ambassador for the event, added.

“It's shaping up to be a very exciting weekend and I'm delighted to be part of it.

“Rainforest Adventure Golf is a fantastic venue to host the very first Irish Minigolf Open, both my teammates and myself love to compete on both courses during our downtime.”