Could Lytham And Muirfield Be In A Holding Pattern After Portrush's Success?

Martin Dempster of The Scotsman wonders if Lytham and Muirfield are on the endangered rota list after last week’s success on and off the course at Portrush.

Coupled with the R&A’s increased emphasis on ticket sales and fan energy, Muirfield’s membership matters and the modern gluten-free diet rendering Lytham helpless against today’s triathletes-turned-golfers, and it’s easy to envision a return to Northern Ireland before those two storied venues.

Dempster writes of the numbers:

Even before it produced one of the most popular winners ever, the Portrush event had attracted a sell-out attendance of 237,750 – the second biggest after St Andrews getting 239,000 in 2000. In comparison, the last visit to Muirfield in 2013 was just over 142,000 and, for the one before that in 2002, it was 161,000.