At Royal Portrush Golf Club it is shaping up to be quite the summer.
“What am I looking forward to most about the Open?” asks the incoming men’s captain, Nigel Pollock.
“Handing the Claret jug to another Irishman, Rory McIlroy. Or, if Shane [Lowry] wants to win it again. If Rory can’t win it, we’d be happy with Shane winning it a second time.”
McIlroy sealed his place as one of golf’s all-time greats – one of only six players to win the career Grand Slam of all four golf Majors (and the first European to achieve this feat) – with victory at the US Masters on Sunday night. In July, he will take to the course at Royal Portrush, which will again play host to the The Open Championship.
The oldest golf tournament in the world and one of the most prestigious was won by the Co Down golfer back in 2014. It is firmly in his sights.
“It’s been a long time coming, it’s been over 10 years since I won a Major championship and getting the Masters, the career Grand Slam, the fifth Major, getting all that out of the way, I think it will allow me to play with a lot more freedom, especially going back – I mean, I can’t wait to go back to Portrush in July with this in tow.”
The drama of McIlroy’s victory at Augusta last Sunday has only intensified the anticipation at the Northern Irish club, where work is under way to transform the normally tranquil course into a venue fit for a championship.
“From an atmosphere perspective, I can see this being something incredibly special, kind of hairs standing up on the back of your neck,” says general manager Danny Campbell.
“Everything feels like it’s just bubbling under the surface, and ready to come to life over the next few months.
“This is the beginning of the build,” explains Ian Kerr, the chairman of the club’s championship committee, as he points out the fencing, Portakabins and articulated lorries nestled in a far corner of the site.
From this month, the grandstands will start to go up, along with tented village areas and the players’ clubhouse next to the existing clubhouse.
“We’ll have hundreds of contractors on site until the tournament, and then they’ll come back and dismantle it from July until September,” says Kerr.
“So, it’s not just spectators coming – you’ve hundreds of people working here, all living locally and eating locally. It’s like a travelling circus.”
Head greenkeeper Graeme Beatt describes it as “the biggest tournament in golf”.
“How could you not be excited?” he says.
Securing the 2019 tournament was a major coup; it was the first time it had been played in Northern Ireland in almost 70 years – the 1951 championship was also hosted by Royal Portrush. It symbolised the recovery of Northern Ireland from the Troubles which for so long made the prospect of hosting an event like the Open unthinkable.
Six years later, that conversation has moved on; the discussion this time around is all about the potential economic benefits, not least because the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which led to the loss of about 60 per cent of the club’s revenue that year.
This came after a tournament which, according to figures from Sheffield Hallam University, delivered an economic benefit of £100 million (€117 million) to Northern Ireland, including £26 million in the local area alone, in a single week.
“That is direct economic impact, and [then there’s] the economic value of showcasing the Causeway Coast in more than 600 million homes worldwide,” says Kerr.
This year, everyone is expecting more. Numbers are up from a record 238,000 spectators in 2019 to more than 250,000 this year, and this is the first time practice days as well as championship days have completely sold out.
There will also be greater infrastructure on the course, including two rather than one tented villages and additional hospitality units.
“As a golf nut, it’s great to have the best players come and play on your home course and be challenged and tested. But the other side is, it’s more than a golf event. It’s about the impact on the local community, and the economic impact, and the rejuvenation of this beautiful part of the country,” says Kerr.
Then there is the longer-term impact of hosting a tournament like the Open.
“In the five Opens I’ve delivered in St Andrews [in Scotland], it was always the year after where you really saw the impact of people coming to stay – hotels, guest houses, restaurants,” says Campbell.
“With Covid, Portrush didn’t see that, so it’ll be really interesting and exciting to see the impact of this one in 2026 and 2027.”
Local businesses are already feeling the benefit. Just a few miles along the coast in Portstewart, the owner of Lemontree Lettings, LeeAnn Dallas, has been working on Open rentals for a full year. It is busier than in 2019.
“Every day there are phone calls and people calling in with houses to rent . . . especially in Portrush; there’s a lot of people moving out of their own homes.”
The money on offer makes it tempting.
“Golfers are taking, for example, a five-bed family home for £35,000 for the 10 days.
“There’ll be golfers living beside normal people in their residential homes, and that doesn’t happen very often.”
Before then, there is much to be done.
“There are non-disclosure agreements have to be signed, so we don’t know which golfers are coming, and then their chefs been over as well to check the kitchens, and then are corresponding with the owners about maybe another oven,” says Dallas.
“There was another one that was £52,000, but that was 24 bedrooms, almost like separate houses but all in the one enclosure, and then you have the student houses, the workers all go there.”
Many are here already.
“We had people in from March 1st to work on the course, and then another 12 came at the end of March until the end of August, so they’re here for 22 weeks, getting the course ready. It’s not just about the 10 days.”
Matt McAlpin agrees. For the owner of the Ramore complex of restaurants and bars in Portrush, last time was “the busiest week we’ve ever had” and he is in no doubt. “It’s going to be massive this time.
“The last time we probably didn’t get the knock-on effect, because of Covid – we were expecting the Americans to come, and more tourists, but then there was lockdown. So it’ll be our busiest week of the year but you’re also hoping for that lasting effect that will bring more and more people to the North coast.
“You’re trying to showcase what it is, one of the most beautiful places in the world – well, when it’s sunny.”
At Royal Portrush too, they want to see good weather.
“We’re hoping for a good spring, some rain, but obviously a nice dry July would be perfect,” says Beatt. “For the course to peak in time for the championship.”
“From the club’s perspective, we’re lucky, because the golf course is so special,” adds Campbell. “We shouldn’t underestimate the power of that golf course.”
This summer, they are in no doubt that the Open will lead others to fall in love with their sport.
“We have a young player here who came with his Dad as a 12- or 13-year-old to the Open the last time, had never swung a golf club, and six years later he’s one of the best players in the club,” says Pollock.
“So it really does bring people into the game of golf.
“We think this is a great boost for Irish golf,” adds Kerr. “It’s a sport that’s played at a national level on an all-island basis . . . Portmarnock could get in the pool for a future Open, because to have two courses on the island hosting the Open championship is not only good for the sport, it’s good for the island.”
In the meantime, work will continue to transform Royal Portrush into a championship venue.
“Members get to play the course with the grandstands all around, which is quite an experience,” he says.
“The next time you come here before the Open, you won’t recognise the place.”
