GOLF: The packed galleries and framed fairways – with spectators five- and six-deep outside the ropes – created a new record for attendance figures at a "regular" European Tour event, yesterday's 30,362 for the final round at Dunluce bringing the total for the four days of tournament play to 112,280.

“I seen the figures for the PGA at Wentworth. But that’s London . . . This is Portrush,” said Rory McIlroy of the comparison and the Irish Open breaking all the records.

It is, perhaps, worth nothing that the crowds that attended the tournament in its two years at Killarney were not to be sniffed at either: in 2010 the four-day attendance was 81,738 and, last year, it increased to 85,179.

All of which puts it up to Carton House, outside Maynooth, who play host to next year’s event.