Golf chiefs ready to make momentous change to The Open that’s never happened before in its 164-year history
GOLF CHIEFS are ready to take The Open out of the UK for the first time in its 164-year history.
Portmarnock near Dublin is bidding to become a host course in the near future on the back of the hugely successful 2019 Open at Portrush in Northern Ireland.
Outgoing R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers revealed talks are underway about staging golf’s oldest tournament in Ireland.
He said: “Portrush was amazing. It is very interesting that the majority of the people at Portrush had never been to an Open Championship.
“What we’ve said about Portmarnock is the club has asked the Irish government for support in putting together a business case to stage our championships on the links.
“And we are fully supportive of the club doing that, and we are actively engaged in making those assessments. But no decisions have been made because we don’t even know if it’s possible.”
Many in golf suspect The Open could one day move out of Europe altogether on a world tour – in much the same way as money men in football want Premier League games to be played abroad.
Portmarnock has hosted The British Amateur Championship, The Irish Open and the Women’s Open. Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and other golf superstars have played there.
Slumbers also dismissed calls for players on the rebel Saudi Arabia backed LIV tour to have direct channels to reach in The Open.
At present, LIV players must compete at separate qualifying events. Former US Masters champion Sergio Garcia missed out on Troon this year by two strokes after playing at the West Lancs club last week.
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Slumbers said: “We have 18 players from LIV in the field, and I think we’ve got all the best players in the world.
“And that’s what we do want to have, all the best players in the world coming through. So I think we’ve created those opportunities.
“Will that evolve in the coming years? I think that depends on how the game evolves.
“But we will continue to want the best players in the world to be able to get into The Open in an appropriate way.”
The Open has been played at 14 different venues throughout its history, with ten of them in rotation at the moment.
Each of these are what are known as links courses, which are generally built sandy coastland which offers a firmer playing surface than other types of courses.
It is the oldest style of golf, first developed in Scotland.
The 2023 edition of The Open was played at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club.