Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush Joins Open Rotation

The R&A has selected Northern Ireland golf course Royal Portrush as the venue for the world’s biggest golf tournament, the Open Championship, potentially in 2019.

This will be the first time the event will return to Northern Ireland since 1951.

The earliest it can be held will be 2019, however, this depends on infrastructure work being completed and approved.

Peter Dawson of the R&A, which organises the Open, said he expected huge interest from the NI public.

He said Royal Portrush was “one of the world’s truly great links courses” and had a “rich golfing heritage”.

A statement from the office of First Minister Peter Robinson also confirmed the news that the tournament could return to the seaside links course.

Robinson said: “This is wonderful news, not only for Royal Portrush Golf Club, but for the whole of Northern Ireland, with an estimated combined tourism promotion and economic return of £70million.

“The decision to bring the Open back to Northern Ireland is a tremendous vote of confidence in the game here and follows the huge success of the Irish Open in 2012, the first in European Tour history to sell out.

“Today’s announcement recognises that Northern Ireland not only has some of the world’s greatest golfers, but some of the world’s greatest golf courses.”

Currently only nine courses, five in Scotland and four in England, are entitled to stage the Open, the oldest of the four major championships in golf.