Ireland

Talk of Brexit banished as Portrush embraces the British Open

‘This is the icing on the cake for Northern Ireland, and it cements how far we’ve come’

Spectators watching golfers on the course during practice day for the Open Championship 2019 at Royal Portrush Golf Club. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Freya McClements's face
Freya McClements in Portrush
Wed Jul 17 2019 - 01:11

Eleven-year-old Lilia Neill and her older brother Adam (13) have just spotted one of their heroes at the British Open.

US Golfer Tony Finau is making his way along the overhead gangway that leads to and from the first tee, so Lilia and Adam scamper over and wave up to him. Finau tosses two of his golfballs in the direction of his young fans.

The siblings run back to their parents, eager to show off their trophies. Each has an autograph book packed with signatures, and Lilia a treasured golf glove.

Both are golf fanatics. From Co Down, the family have a holiday home in nearby Portstewart, where Lilia and Adam play; both want to be golfers when they’re older.

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“It’s not like most sports,” Lilia explains. “In golf, if you don’t get it right the first time, you can practice until you get better. I like the practicing.”

They would love to meet Tiger Woods, and made a poster – “Good Moods for Tiger Woods: 2019 Open” – hoping it would catch his eye.

They saw him on Tuesday, but he didn’t notice their poster. “Maybe tomorrow,” says Adam.

To see Woods at Royal Portrush would once have been unthinkable at one time in Northern Ireland. Out on the course, or wandering through the spectators’ village, the scale of the Open is evident; so too is the event’s global reach.

Kathy and Dale Chellevold from Wisconsin, USA, are the envy of other spectators because they are staying with friends who own a house on the course.

“It was the chance of a lifetime to come here,” says Kathy. “We love it. Everyone’s so friendly.”

Locals would argue that is one of the benefits of holding the Open here. On these early practice days, the majority of accents are native ones; many are local or have holiday homes nearby.

All understand the significance of the Open’s presence in Portrush.

“You have to pinch yourself to think how far things have come here,” says Brian McGee. From the town, he is watching as his grandchildren play at a putting range.

His daughter Lauren says: “I’m very proud to be from Portrush”.

For her, the holding of the Open here is the culmination of many years of change in Northern Ireland.

Different story

“I think we’ve been writing a different story here for a long time. This is the icing on the cake for Northern Ireland, and it cements how far we’ve come.

“It’s a shame there’s no government in place to really celebrate it. I hope all the benefits of it don’t just fade away – look at how hard they worked to get us here, wouldn’t it be better if they were here to help us reap the rewards?”

Gordon Armstrong from Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, describes the Open as “a massive PR opportunity” for Northern Ireland. “It shows there’s more things in the world than the ‘B word’.”

Brexit has tended to make us look into our own wee groups again, and I think that's sad

The B word, of course, is Brexit; on the course at Royal Portrush, it feels a distant prospect.

“This is one of the biggest international events in the world,” says Armstrong. “It transcends golf, and it sends the message that we’re looking forward to the future in an optimistic way, and shows what we can do here when we put our minds to it.

“Golf is an all-Ireland sport. It’s not split – and it shows that there’s a common heritage here that people identify with.”

Noreen Pakenham, from Bangor, Co Down, agrees.

“I find it quite emotional, actually,” she says. “Sport doesn’t divide people, it unites them. We’ve met some lovely people here today, from both sides.”

She and her husband Ted come to Portrush for three weeks every summer.

“We’re Remainers,” Noreen stresses. Protestants who vote for the Alliance Party, they are strong supporters and friends of Independent Unionist Lady Sylvia Hermon, the North Down MP.

“I’m afraid of our present situation,” says Ted Pakenham. “I think Brexit has tended to make us look into our own wee groups again, and I think that’s sad.

“One would hope it’s not going to divide Ireland again, that would be the worst case scenario, but whatever happens we’ll make the best of it.”

“We look on ourselves as Irish,” says Noreen. “Things have been going so well, we wouldn’t want anything to change or to stand in the way of progress. It’s not for us, but for our grandchildren.”

The Boyces – Ian and Bea – are also from Co Down. Members of a golf club near their home, they also go to the K Club in Co Kildare.

“You don’t really think about the Border any more,” says Bea Boyce. “Brexit brought it back a little bit, but in sport you just don’t think like that.”