Golf

Challenges of hosting The Open at Portmarnock ‘not trivial’, says R&A chief

Portmarnock Golf Club has engaged with Government for financial support to stage golf’s oldest major in Dublin

Portmarnock Golf Club is hoping to one day bring The Open to Dublin. Photograph: David Cannon/Getty Images
Portmarnock Golf Club is hoping to one day bring The Open to Dublin. Photograph: David Cannon/Getty Images
Philip Reid at Royal Troon
Wed Jul 17 2024 - 14:18

The logistical and infrastructural requirements that would need to be met to enable Portmarnock Golf Club to play host to The Open have been described as “not trivial” by outgoing R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers.

Portmarnock has started engagements with the Government for financial support to stage golf’s oldest major at the north Dublin links, with the R&A, according to Slumbers, “fully supportive of the club doing that.”

“It’s all about getting people in and out of the peninsula. It’s a tight little area, and to move that number of people, you need to be able to treat the people not just properly, but you need to have safety and health and all sorts of things that are really important. So those are issues that need to be resolved,” admitted Slumbers.

Portmarnock would become the first course outside of the UK to host The Open if it is given the go-ahead, although the timeline – possibly after first hosting the AIG Women’s Open – would seem a number of years away yet.

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Pádraig Harrington, who has been a great advocate for the championship being staged at Portmarnock, said: “It would justify the fact that we call it The Open. It would solidify that the R&A is in charge of golf all over the world and it would open up the possibility for The Open in time going to Australia or places like that, maybe not the time of the year, but why not?”

Harrington, whose exemption as a past champion ends when he turns 60, in 2032, claimed he couldn’t see the championship fitting into the rota any sooner than 2030.

[ Portmarnock’s decision could lead to future hosting of Open Championship ]

The championship will next year return to Royal Portrush in Co Antrim, where Shane Lowry won in 2019. The public ticket ballot for Portrush has opened and will close on July 31st.

Of that 2019 staging at Royal Portrush, which saw 237,750 spectators attend through the week, Slumbers said: “It opened up a new market. And that’s good for business and good for golf.” On that occasion, an estimated 20 per cent of ticket sales went to the American market.

He would envisage staging a championship at Portmarnock creating a similar scenario, but it is dependent on how the ongoing discussions between club and government regarding financial support go and on finding logistical solutions.

Philip Reid

Philip Reid

Philip Reid is Golf Correspondent of The Irish Times