Portrush to host the Open

The BBC seems to think The R&A will shortly confirm Portrush as a venue for the Open. Unlike them to make things up:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/27799870

Any thoughts on this? I'm sure it's a tremendous course, but it is a shame that most of the courses on the rota are in such inaccessible locations. Can you imagine any other sport building its national stadium in a tiny remote village.

Congratulations Northern Ireland!

Or as some of you would put it: "R&A to tweak Portrush."

I think it's good news. Great to see the old geezers finally think out of the box...

raycastleunited wrote:The BBC seems to think The R&A will shortly confirm Portrush as a venue for the Open. Unlike them to make things up:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/27799870

Any thoughts on this? I'm sure it's a tremendous course, but it is a shame that most of the courses on the rota are in such inaccessible locations. Can you imagine any other sport building its national stadium in a tiny remote village.

Congratulations Northern Ireland!

It's the nature of links Ray, You can't really expect to have a links course in the middle of Birmingham or London.
Birkdale, Lytham and Hoylake are hardly that remote, nor St.Andrews or Muirfield, and even Carnoustie isn't that hard to get to.

I was very confident this would happen.

Remember having a debate about whether Portrush would host the open on here. There was a lot of people that either didnt want it or didnt think it would be possible.

Most people seemed to think the infrastructure and accomodation was going to make it impossible. It definitely wont IMO even if it will be a challenge.

Great to hear this is going to become a reality. Great news. Now all we need is an Irish winner.

No chips available in the tented village though

Can only be a good thing as far as I can see. Nice to see it played somewhere different and got to be a better golfing challenge than the quinquennial St. Andrews borefest in any case!

Unfortunately that will still be held every 5 years there. The old farts at the r&a can't get enough

Be interesting to see how the R&A reacts to the presumptuousness of both club and NI Executive in effectively taking ownership of this announcement.  When all said and done, the article did state this ...

The Royal and Ancient said last month that it remained "some distance" from being able to stage the Open in Northern Ireland.

Sounds to me like the various parties still had quite a bit of negotiating to do before any agreement could be reached.  What is going on, I wonder?

Serves the irish right if the R&A pulled the plug on them.

gaelgowfer wrote:Be interesting to see how the R&A reacts to the presumptuousness of both club and NI Executive in effectively taking ownership of this announcement.  When all said and done, the article did state this ...

The Royal and Ancient said last month that it remained "some distance" from being able to stage the Open in Northern Ireland.

Sounds to me like the various parties still had quite a bit of negotiating to do before any agreement could be reached.  What is going on, I wonder?

Serves the irish right if the R&A pulled the plug on them.

The article said

However, it is expected to confirm Portrush as an Open venue early next week following discussions with the club and Northern Ireland Executive.  It is understood that the 17th and 18th holes on the course may be moved in order to fulfil infrastructure requirements.

 So that's probably what's going on.

As for presumptuousness and plug pulling, that article was written by the BBC, doesn't quote any official from either the club or the NI executive so I don't see your point.  Similar articles appear in the all the main newspapers, but there is no official announcement I can find on the club site or the NI exec site. So I don't think there is any presumptuousness here other than your presumption that "the irish" leaked the story without the knowledge or support of the R&A.  Unless you know differently for a fact of course.

navyblueshorts wrote:Can only be a good thing as far as I can see. Nice to see it played somewhere different and got to be a better golfing challenge than the quinquennial St. Andrews borefest in any case!

quinquennial - good word!

Now confirmed. '2019 at the earliest depending on infratructure modifications'
 
http://www.randa.org/en/RandA/News/News/2014/June/Royal-Portrush-invited-to-host-The-Open-Championship.aspx
 
Royal Portrush invited to host The Open Championship
 
The Open Championship is set to return to Northern Ireland for the first time in over 60 years and only the second time in its more than 150-year history.
 
Royal Portrush has been invited to stage The Open by The R&A and the County Antrim club’s members will now be asked to ratify the proposal to enable preparations to begin for what is expected to be the largest sporting event ever to be held in Northern Ireland.
 
First Minister the Rt. Hon. Peter D Robinson MLA, deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness MLA and Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Arlene Foster joined Simon Rankin, Captain of Royal Portrush Golf Club, Peter Unsworth, Chairman of The R&A’s Championship Committee, and Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of The R&A, in making the announcement at Royal Portrush today.
 
The Open is golf’s oldest and most international Major Championship. It has a broadcast reach of over 500 million households around the world and a record 4,468 hours of television coverage of The Open Championship at Muirfield was monitored in 2013.  Based on independent research The Championship is likely to deliver a combined economic impact and destination marketing benefit of £70 million for Northern Ireland.
 
The First Minister Peter Robinson said, “This is wonderful news, not only for Royal Portrush Golf Club, but for the whole of Northern Ireland. The decision to bring The Open back to Northern Ireland is a tremendous vote of confidence in the game here and follows the huge success of the Irish Open in 2012, the first in European Tour history to sell out. The R&A’s decision to invite Portrush to join The Open rota is a ringing endorsement of Northern Ireland and I know we will deliver an event that we can all be proud of.”
 
The deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said, “I welcome the official confirmation today by The R&A that The Open will return to Royal Portrush. This announcement will create much anticipation and excitement as the thought of our local golfers challenging for the Claret Jug on home soil is set to become a reality. Hosting The Open will leave a lasting imprint on Royal Portrush and I wish everyone involved in the planning and preparation every success and assure them of the full support of the Executive.”
 
The Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Arlene Foster added, “The Open’s arrival on the north coast will tell the world what we already know – that not only is Northern Ireland home to three Major winning golfers, it is home to some of the best courses on the planet. We will pull out all the stops to ensure that – just as we did with the Irish Open - Northern Ireland will stage a world class event that will be long remembered by players and spectators alike.”
 
The Open was held at Royal Portrush in 1951, when Englishman Max Faulkner lifted the famous Claret Jug after a two-shot victory over Argentina’s Antonio Cerda, on the only occasion it has been played outwith Scotland and England.
 
Royal Portrush successfully staged the Irish Open in 2012, with more than 130,000 people attending throughout the week, and it has held the Senior Open Championship on six occasions. The Amateur Championship is being played at the Dunluce links for the third time this week.
 
Peter Unsworth, the Chairman of The R&A’s Championship Committee, said, “Royal Portrush is one of the great links courses and we could not be more excited at bringing The Open back to Northern Ireland. We welcome the support of the Northern Ireland Executive and the various agencies involved who will play a key role in the Championship. There is huge enthusiasm for golf in Northern Ireland and throughout Ireland and we expect fantastic support for The Open when it returns.”
 
Simon Rankin, Captain of Royal Portrush Golf Club added, “I am sure our members will be delighted to see The Open being played here once again. It will be of great benefit to the club and Northern Ireland as a whole to have the game’s greatest Championship played here. This is a great day in the celebrated history of Irish golf.”
 
For more information visit TheOpen.com.

What does the list of venues look like from 2017 onwards? Would imagine something like:
2017: Birkdale
2018: Carnoustie
2019: Portrush (or Drumpf hovering like a vulture to have Turnberry listed as "first alternate", probably worth his while to instigate a few troubles)
2020: Stan Drews
2021: RSG?

Time for TOC to get one every six years instead of every five.

Same as any other would be preferable Kwini, once every 8-9 years.

super_realist wrote:

raycastleunited wrote:The BBC seems to think The R&A will shortly confirm Portrush as a venue for the Open. Unlike them to make things up:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/27799870

Any thoughts on this? I'm sure it's a tremendous course, but it is a shame that most of the courses on the rota are in such inaccessible locations. Can you imagine any other sport building its national stadium in a tiny remote village.

Congratulations Northern Ireland!

It's the nature of links Ray, You can't really expect to have a links course in the middle of Birmingham or London.
Birkdale, Lytham and Hoylake are hardly that remote, nor St.Andrews or Muirfield, and even Carnoustie isn't that hard to get to.

Super - I do realise that links courses by definition tend to be in remote locations, and using these historic courses adds to the traditions of the Open, it's just a shame so many of the courses are so hard to get to. Even St Andrews isn't easy... it has no train station for a start, and is accessed by a single carriage road.

Maybe Trump could invest in building an articifical links stadium course in the midlands or home counties, relocating wind turbines from the North Sea to create a sea breeze blowing across the coast?

!!!!
Don't give him ideas ray, he might have his apprentices scouring boards like this. Perhaps he'll acquire Regents Park and import a thousand truckloads of sand. Or he could use the Serpentine in HP as a water hazard.

I love links courses and, of course, the Open ... but why not celebrate all the UK has to offer? Parkland/Heathland greats like Walton Heath would be a fun and fine test of golf. And the gate would be virtually guaranteed.

Portrush and the area has loads of guest houses. It's a seaside resort.

Will still need more accommodation though.

kwinigolfer wrote:!!!!
Don't give him ideas ray, he might have his apprentices scouring boards like this. Perhaps he'll acquire Regents Park and import a thousand truckloads of sand. Or he could use the Serpentine in HP as a water hazard.

His new links course in NY is set to open to the public in 2015. The site used to be a municipal dump, and he had to truck in vast amounts of sand to build realistic looking dunes. There's already a rumor that it will host the Barclays in 2017. I'm sure it looks impressive when you're on it, but from the road it looks a bit fake -- kind of like a huge miniature golf course that just needs a giant windmill to finish it off.

But it still looks a lot better than the municipal dump it used to be, and plays a lot better too - right?

I know people rightly have reservations about the man, but he's actually putting money into golf. In the absence of a better white knight, the choice appears to be between Trump and his money (and all that entails) or nothing much being invested at all.

Back to Portrush and infrastructure, accommodation etc. Firstly, I went to the Irish open there and the crowds were huge but the park and ride and transport arrangements were excellent. I got in and out when I wanted and saw no major issues. "Ah!" I hear you say "But you're almost a local". Indeed, but staying in Belfast and going by bus to the course is very viable and that opens up huge amounts of hotels etc (who will all put on buses). Also bear in mind the Portrush area is home to the NW200 motorcycle road race weekend which attracts about 80,000 visitors.

Bob_the_Job wrote:I know people rightly have reservations about the man, but he's actually putting money into golf.  In the absence of a better white knight, the choice appears to be between Trump and his money (and all that entails) or nothing much being invested at all.

I'll have the investment please. Sorry naysayers.

Shotrock wrote:I love links courses and, of course, the Open ... but why not celebrate all the UK has to offer? Parkland/Heathland greats like Walton Heath would be a fun and fine test of golf. And the gate would be virtually guaranteed.

Agree, there's too many excellent courses in the UK to restrict it to drab Links courses like TOC

Trump is such a despicable figure that I'd rather accept golf investment from Assad (well, it would be close) than from him. Horrible man.

I've played the Hitler Course at Berchtesgaden. Outstanding. What's in a name?

I've played that course, out in 39 back in 45!  

BlueCoverman wrote:I've played that course, out in 39 back in 45!  

  

I played it too...two shots in the bunker.

Bob_the_Job wrote:

gaelgowfer wrote:Be interesting to see how the R&A reacts to the presumptuousness of both club and NI Executive in effectively taking ownership of this announcement.  When all said and done, the article did state this ...

The Royal and Ancient said last month that it remained "some distance" from being able to stage the Open in Northern Ireland.

Sounds to me like the various parties still had quite a bit of negotiating to do before any agreement could be reached.  What is going on, I wonder?

Serves the irish right if the R&A pulled the plug on them.

The article said

However, it is expected to confirm Portrush as an Open venue early next week following discussions with the club and Northern Ireland Executive.  It is understood that the 17th and 18th holes on the course may be moved in order to fulfil infrastructure requirements.

 So that's probably what's going on.

As for presumptuousness and plug pulling, that article was written by the BBC, doesn't quote any official from either the club or the NI executive so I don't see your point.  Similar articles appear in the all the main newspapers, but there is no official announcement I can find on the club site or the NI exec site. So I don't think there is any presumptuousness here other than your presumption that "the irish" leaked the story without the knowledge or support of the R&A.  Unless you know differently for a fact of course.

Bob ... apologies.  I didn't express myself well at all in that I left out the most important part in that any 'leak' probably came from Royal Portrush or the Northern Ireland Executive.  As it turns out, it's unlikely Royal Portrush leaked anything as their ctte hadn't yet sought permission from their own members to host The Open (with all that that entails).  So, that leaves the NI Executive ...  

Call me cynical if you like but, as I see it, the only way this information could have got out was at source so, in a sense, it was presumptuous from whomever was ultimately responsible for the leak.

Got you Gael, but for reasons I won't go into I know the way these things work, and indeed a good bit about the press liaison for the NI Exec. I've no doubt that the NI exec "leaked" it (actually openly briefed the press but told them it couldn't be official yet). I've also very little doubt that they had the agreement of the R&A to do so.

Tell them what you're going to tell them. Tell them it. Tell them what you told them.

Who cares?

I understand what you're saying Bob but, going on history, it just simply isn't The R&A's style to make important announcements in this manner.  

Besides which, where's the profit?  Why would The R&A deny themselves the pleasure of making such a momentous announcement?

gaelgowfer wrote:I understand what you're saying Bob but, going on history, it just simply isn't The R&A's style to make important announcements in this manner.  

Besides which, where's the profit?  Why would The R&A deny themselves the pleasure of making such a momentous announcement?

... particularly when one takes into consideration, the fact that Royal Portrush still had to seek permission from its own members?

How many clubs have ever turned down The Open?

I'm warming to the idea of the Trumpodrome manufactured links course. Maybe he could take an existing course which is well known but uninspiring (e.g. the Belfry, the Grove?), dump a load of sand all over it, and then build massive stands alongside the holes. Make the spectator facilities permanent like Augusta and play the Open there every year. You could make it 8000+ yards, with no need for red or yellow tees.

It would then be easier for people like me to play the old courses on the rota without requiring a second mortgage.

Plunky,
It looks like Ferry Point has definitely got the Barclays in 2017, according to Golf Channel.
One can only hope Trump dies before we see his ugly mug contaminating our TV coverage. Ghastly man, racist, ageist, anti-women (except for his own egotistical purposes) and, for all we know, absolutely boracic.

super_realist wrote:How many clubs have ever turned down The Open?

Ok, I'll bite.  

Apparently, RP members not happy at lack of consultation which, given the scale of the changes being proposed, I can well understand their frustration.  At the end of the day it is the members who own the courses not the bleedin' NI Executive!

I don't think members "own" a club, they are only members, not shareholders, not owners, they pay subscriptions to use the facilities.

I'd have thought the members would be keen on bringing money and tourism into that backward blackspot. Annoying when your course gets taken over by the R&A for a couple of months every 7-8 years, but there are plenty of other nefarious activities to get up to in NI.

Super, for many private clubs the members effectively own the course. The course is usually owned (freehold / leasehold) by a limited company which is held in trust for the members. The members then appoint a board of directors to run the limited company which owns the course.

super_realist wrote:I don't think members "own" a club, they are only members, not shareholders, not owners, they pay subscriptions to use the facilities.

I'd have thought the members would be keen on bringing money and tourism into that backward blackspot. Annoying when your course gets taken over by the R&A for a couple of months every 7-8 years, but there are plenty of other nefarious activities to get up to in NI.

Of course they own their club.  They could quite easily kick the whole project into touch with a simple vote.  I don't think they will but they have the collective power to do this.  This is not St. Andrews!

If a course goes into debt, the members aren't liable for it. It isn't a members limited company as such. The club could default any loans it has and it wouldn't be the members liable for it. It wouldn't affect their credit agreement. At best they are silent shareholders for a period of 12 months at a time.

gaelgowfer wrote:

super_realist wrote:I don't think members "own" a club, they are only members, not shareholders, not owners, they pay subscriptions to use the facilities.

I'd have thought the members would be keen on bringing money and tourism into that backward blackspot. Annoying when your course gets taken over by the R&A for a couple of months every 7-8 years, but there are plenty of other nefarious activities to get up to in NI.

Of course they own their club.  They could quite easily kick the whole project into touch with a simple vote.  I don't think they will but they have the collective power to do this.  This is not St. Andrews!

I'm a member of a private club too Gael, and the best I can do is have a vote in AGM's. I don't actually get dividends on the profit. I am basically renting facilities from the club, not really much different from a visitor who turns up and pays twice a week except I can vote in an AGM.

I have a democratic say in decisions, I don't in anyway own the club.

super_realist wrote:

gaelgowfer wrote:

super_realist wrote:I don't think members "own" a club, they are only members, not shareholders, not owners, they pay subscriptions to use the facilities.

I'd have thought the members would be keen on bringing money and tourism into that backward blackspot. Annoying when your course gets taken over by the R&A for a couple of months every 7-8 years, but there are plenty of other nefarious activities to get up to in NI.

Of course they own their club.  They could quite easily kick the whole project into touch with a simple vote.  I don't think they will but they have the collective power to do this.  This is not St. Andrews!

I'm a member of a private club too Gael, and the best I can do is have a vote in AGM's. I don't actually get dividends on the profit. I am basically renting facilities from the club, not really much different from a visitor who turns up and pays twice a week except I can vote in an AGM.

I have a democratic say in decisions, I don't in anyway own the club.

Pedant!

super_realist wrote:If a course goes into debt, the members aren't liable for it. It isn't a members limited company as such. The club could default any loans it has and it wouldn't be the members liable for it. It wouldn't affect their credit agreement. At best they are silent shareholders for a period of 12 months at a time.

But if you are a shareholder in a company which goes into debt, you aren't liable for it either. A company can default loans and go bust and shareholders are not liable.

I didn't say they did. I said they were more like silent shareholders than actual owners. In fact it's not even as clean as that. They rent a single share worth nothing but a number in a finite list of "shares" on a 12 month basis, no dividends, just a vote and a use of the facilities.

Would you make the trip over for the Open super? don't forget the kneecap protectors  

super_realist wrote:I didn't say they did. I said they were more like silent shareholders than actual owners. In fact it's not even as clean as that. They rent a single share worth nothing but a number in a finite list of "shares" on a 12 month basis, no dividends, just a vote and a use of the facilities.

It doesn't alter the fact that the members at RP would have the final say on whether or not they want The Open.

Is that simple enough for you to understand   sr?

Trump's NY course is public -- funded by NY city taxpayers. Construction started back in 2000, costs escalated, the original developer backed out and Trump came to the rescue (I don't like the man but he does know how to get things done !). In return he gets to manage the facilities, build the clubhouse (and maybe a ritzy hotel) and gets a sweetheart deal when it comes to fees/rents etc that the other public courses pay to the city. No word on how much the greens fees will be, but rumour has it at least 3 times the fees of the other NY city courses. Meanwhile at the other end of Ferry Point Park is a community park -- barbecues, softball, soccer etc where the city has yet to find the $$ to provide a public bathroom, so the expensive golf course does not sit too well with the locals. We'll probably stick to Bethpage.

Virtually all members' clubs in the uk are run as companies limited by guarantee.

The members act as guarantors, and agree to pay a nominal amount in the event of the company being wound up. There is no share capital and no dividends are usually paid, after all they shouldn't be run for profit, rather the good of the members.
Companies limited by guarantee were invented for organizations like golf and tennis clubs.

Back to Portrush - the Amateur Championship was fogged off today. Don't know if this is a typical problem in NI in June.

Bob_the_Job wrote:I played it too...two shots in the bunker.

On the East Course you can finish the first 9 holes in 20 minutes, yet nobody ever made it back to the club house.