GOLF:THE CLAMOUR to take the British Open to Royal Portrush won't go away, and three-time Major champion Pádraig Harrington – for one – is convinced golf's oldest championship will one day work its way back to the Causeway Coast. It was staged for the first and only time in 1951, when Max Faulkner won the Claret Jug.
However, the Dubliner – who cites the Dunluce links as his favourite course – doesn’t believe the Irish Open, starting tomorrow, should be a first and final exam in determining whether the links gets the thumbs-up from the RA.
“The golf course is good enough,” argued Harrington, adding: “Politically, it shouldn’t be an issue.”
In emphasising how the political climate in the North had changed since his amateur days, Harrington recalled how he’d once been stopped at a border checkpoint while police dealt with a 500 lb bomb.
That the British Open is traditionally held in the second week of July, which coincides with the marching season in the North, is an additional factor for those in authority to take into account.
“It’s an awkward date,” concurred Harrington, “but maybe in five or six years time (it won’t be). This (getting the Open to Portrush) is more of a reality than we think . . . really, it’s (about) the infrastructure. Let’s hope this week goes swimmingly well.
“But even it if doesn’t, they’re allowed to have a few hiccups at their first attempt. Any golf course that hosts an event for the first time, they go back and it works better. I don’t think they should feel like they’re under pressure to have it perfect this week. They’ve already exceeded anything they needed to do, just with the crowds (sold out and capped at 27,000 a day for tournament days) turning up.”
“I would love to play a British Open here . . . it would be unbelievable . . . there’s no doubt the course is ready and hopefully they (the RA) will be watching. I think, as a policy, the RA would be thrilled if they could bring the Open championship to Northern Ireland or Portrush. But I think there’s bigger questions than that, when it comes to infrastructure and stuff like that.”
He added: “If the Open was coming here, literally, they’d move mountains to make sure it was a success. It would be great to have a Ryder Cup too, that could be another option.”
Whatever happens over the next four days and however successful the Irish Open proves to be, Royal Portrush will have to wait its time for a chance to get the British Open. The RA last week announced Royal Troon as the venue for 2016, with Muirfield (2013), Hoylake (2014) and St Andrews (2015) all already pencilled into the calendar.
If the RA were, down the line, to give the go-ahead to Royal Portrush, the sport’s governing body would also need to take a hit on attendances. For health and safety reasons, a ceiling of 27,000 a day has been imposed for this week’s Irish Open. The record attendance (over a week) in the British Open is 230,000, jointly at Hoylake (2006) and St Andrews (2000).
‘The RA are very aware they need a successful event to sponsor their various programmes down the road and do the work they do (around the world). I think financially they would be well able to take the hit on a given year,” suggested Harrington.
Perhaps the USGA, in awarding the US Open next year to Merion and imposing a daily crowd limit of 24,000, will have set the precedent for taking any financial hit.
