R&A drop huge hint that The Open will be played outside UK for first time
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Chief executive Mark Darbon says there is an historical context to taking the Claret Jug to Portmarnock in Ireland.
The R&A’s plan to take the Open Championship to Portmarnock has, it seems, moved a step closer.
The message from the governing body’s new chief executive, Mark Darbon, about golf’s oldest major being played outside of the United Kingdom for the first time was simple: “We’re serious.”
Darbon, speaking to the Associated Press, said he recently went to take “a proper look” at the Dublin links, which is around 10 miles north of Ireland’s capital city. And he liked what he saw.
“It’s clearly a great course,” he explained. “A wonderful links golf course, and clearly a links course that provides a challenge to the best golfers in the world is right in the heart of our thinking about where we take our prized Open Championship.”
Portmarnock has hosted a number of prestigious events down the years – notably the 1949 and 2019 Amateur Championship, the 1931 and 2024 Women’s Amateur Championship, and the 1991 Walker Cup, all of which are administered by The R&A – and it’s this relationship Darbon is keen to explore.
“We think if we’re happy taking our Amateur Championships there, why not consider it for The Open, too?” he said.
An Open in Ireland, however, does not open the door to take the tournament around the globe, with Darbon adding historical context for the planned addition of Portmarnock to the rota.
“The simple answer is ‘no,’ it wouldn’t open up our thinking more broadly,” Darbon explained. “If you go back in history, the home territory of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is the British Isles, basically.”
The British Isles, for clarity, incorporates the three countries that make up Great Britain – England, Scotland and Wales – as well as the island of Ireland.
Darbon concluded: “We think if we’ve got this great history with the Republic of Ireland and its great golf course, then why not look at it?”
Portmarnock, which has also hosted a Canada Cup and 19 editions of the Irish Open, was urged by Darbon’s predecessor, Martin Slumbers to seek government support in their bid to put forward a case for holding both The Open and the Women’s Open.
“We are fully supportive of the club doing that, and we are actively engaged in making those assessments,” Slumbers said at last year’s Open at Royal Troon.
