How The Open At Portrush In 2019 Became Official

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I can't tell you how excited I am to see the remarkable Royal Portrush host The Open. Even if the effort required putting corporate tents on the current finishing holes, allowing retired Chief Inspector Peter Dawson to play architect. Getting there and accommodations may be tricky but it'll be worth it.

Curiously, The Open at Royal Portrush in 2019 was still not something the R&A could commit to as of July, but a mid-October press conference finally confirmed the news.

Brian Keogh at the Irish Golf Desk with a comprehensive account at the Irish Golf Desk touches on what finally put things over the top, the key players in what will go down as one of the biggest hurdles crossed to get a venue in any rota, and what hometown hero Darren Clarke thinks of it all.

Laughing, Clarke said: “Rory has done and will do anything. But it will be a very good 61.”

He expects the revamped course to become one of the world’s best, insisting: “If it is not ranked amongst the Top-5 after these changes, I will be amazed because this is as fair a links course as you will ever play.”

I guess this would be a bad time to point out that the more fair a links, the more likely someone will shoot 61?

Nice to see the European Tour and retired head man George O'Grady getting some love for having shown the R&A that Portrush could work:

“I think George O’Grady deserves the credit for that,” Clarke said of the sellout Irish Open of 2012 that persuaded the R&A to consider Royal Portrush for The Open.

“It was a very brave and courageous move for George to bring the Irish Open back North again. And I think his effort in the whole thing shouldn’t be underestimated.”

Martin Ebert is overseeing the two hole addition, which will be completed by next summer.