IRISH OPEN COULD BE PORTRUSH STEPPING STONE TO THE OPEN

FROM THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH WEBSITE

By Jonathan Bradley

The Irish Open is on its way to Royal Portrush — and that could well be a stepping stone towards the course staging The Open itself.

Buoyed by the recent Major successes of Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell — who honed their games at Portrush — and Rory McIlroy, the Stormont Executive has now pledged “substantial financial backing” to bring a European Tour event to Royal Portrush.

That will be the Irish Open, which, incidentally, all three of our Major winners will be competing in when it tees off in Killarney next week.

It is hoped that a successful staging of the Irish Open at Royal Portrush — which will happen within two years — would quell concerns about the viability of holding the Open Championship at the course in the future.

It has been 60 years since the one and only occasion when the tournament was held on Ulster's northern coastline — with Max Faulkner winning there in 1951.

And newly-crowned Open champion Clarke is among those who believe it is time to bring the world’s oldest major championship back to Royal Portrush.

The 42-year-old said: “The golf course is every bit as good as any of the Open venues. It's good enough to be in the rota.”

Club captain Phillip Tweedie said: “The Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment has now given a firm commitment in terms of providing the financial backing that is required and the European Tour has also strongly endorsed the move.”

To hold such an event requires at least £2.7million, with half of that outlay being needed for prize money.

Tourism Minister Arlene Foster has called on all of the parties involved to make sure the Irish Open is a success in Northern Ireland.

“This will need a major commitment from Royal Portrush Golf Club, the European Tour, sponsors, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Tourism Ireland, Coleraine Borough Council and others,” she nsaid.

“But I am confident that we will work well together to make this a world-class event.”

She added: “This will showcase our golf tourism, offering all over the world and provide a major boost to our local economy.”

However, the R and A, the organisers of the Open, has expressed doubts about the logistics of holding an event of that size in Northern Ireland, particularly an hour's drive northwest of Belfast to the coastline that faces the Mull of Kintyre.

Last week R and A chief Peter Dawson said: “The usual mixture of a great course and plenty of infrastructure, combined with a prospect of commercial success, is what's needed to host the Open.

“No doubt about the golf course at Portrush but the other two are what we have to look at.”