The Open: Portmarnock 'Pretty Close' To Hosting Claret Jug

Portmarnock Golf Club near Dublin is close to staging the Open Championship — (Image credit: Getty Images)

R&A boss Mark Darbon says "we're getting pretty close" to making history and being able to take the Open Championship to the Republic of Ireland at Portmarnock.

The chase for the Claret Jug has never been taken outside of the United Kingdom before, but the Dublin links has been making a big effort to change all that.

Talks have been ongoing for some time and a lot of work has been done by the R&A, Portmarnock and the local government in order to bring The Open to the Republic of Ireland.

And it's now just a matter of 'when' not 'if' the Open will be heading to Portmarnock just outside the Irish captial.

"I think we're getting pretty close," said Darbon at his pre-Open press conference at Royal Birkdale. "It's a complicated venue because of the scale of The Open Championship.

"So there's been a lot of great feasibility work with the golf club themselves, with the local authority, with government. We've undertaken a big feasibility study. That work is pretty much done. We've confirmed that we believe we can take an Open Championship there."

The R&A first confirmed Portmarnock was in contention to host the Open back in 2023, and Darbon admitted that the process was taking longer than expected due to all the logistics involved.

"What we're looking to do is build a model that opens up opportunities for the AIG Women's Open and The Open for many, many years to come," Darbon added.

"So that's the dialogue we're in right now with the Irish government, and we're optimistic that those discussions are heading in the right direction.

"Time frame - look, in the spirit of transparency, it's taken a bit longer than I think I and we thought it may, but it's complicated doing all of that feasibility work. We're hoping to have a pretty clear view by the end of the year for sure."

No plans for Prince's - Turnbery & Muirfield still out in the cold

Muirfield and Trumpy Turnberry continue to miss out on staging the Open Championship

Portmarnock would join Royal Portrush as Open venues on the island of Ireland - with the two recent championships held on the north coast in 2019 and last year being hugely successful.

Adding Portmarnock to a new regular host in Portrush would seemingly reduce the chances of the likes of Trump Turnberry and Muirfield returning even further.

The two famous Scottish venues have no immediate hope of getting back on the Open rota, while Royal Lytham & St Annes has done enough work to get back to hosting duties as it will stage the 2028 Open.

One further course Darbon was asked about was Prince's - the neighbor to Royal St George's which has hosted The Open once, in 1932 when Gene Sarazen won.

But the Kent venue is not being considered by the R&A.

"It's not under consideration at the moment," said Darbon. "As you mentioned, we're taking the Walker Cup there.

"The work they've done in recent years down at Prince's has been spectacular, but we're really happy with the rotation that we've got at the moment. As you know, and it's been well-documented, we are in discussion with Portmarnock around the potential for an Open Championship in the future.

"No plans beyond that at this stage."

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website. Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.