Iconic Dublin links moves closer to hosting Open with update from golf chief

This would be incredible!

We reported back in January on the huge news that Portmarnock Golf Club in North Dublin would be making upgrades to the course, in order for it to continue on its journey to hosting the Open Championship.

Never before has the iconic major been held in the south of Ireland, but with the R&A bringing the tournament back to Portrush in 2019, and again this week, it opened the door for more courses on the island to participate.

Speaking ahead of The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush, R&A Chief Executive Mark Darbon provided a positive update on the ongoing process of bringing the Open to Portmarnock, which would likely be around 2030.

He said: "First one would say is that I've got one venue on my mind this week and it's Portrush, given it is my first Open Championship, and looking forward to delivering what we hope will be a successful event.

"Yes, we are thinking about Portmarnock. We think it's a wonderful links golf course, and we've been really encouraged by the support that we've had in principle from the Irish government to work with us to understand whether we can stage an Open Championship there in the future.

"We're knee-deep in the feasibility work to help us answer that question fully. We expect to have a clearer picture by the back end of this year."

Another course hoping to hold the tournament in the near future is Trump Turnberry, which has been in the rotation in the past, last hosting in 2009.

Regarded by many as the most scenic course that has hosted, Darbon said that because of logistical reasons, it cannot be held there at the moment.

He added: "I think we've been extremely clear on our position, as in respect of Turnbury. We love the golf course, but we've got some big logistical challenges there. You see the scale of the setup here, and we've some work to do on the road, rail, and accommodation structure around Turnberry, and we've explicitly not taken it out of our pool of venues.

"But we need to address those logistical challenges."