R&A well disposed towards Portmarnock despite “infrastructure challenges”

The R&A is waiting to see if Portmarnock receives enough Government support “for them to make a credible proposition“ to host The Open.

“The club has talked to us about it,” its Chief Executive, Martin Slumbers, told Golf Digest

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/RA-ceo-martin-slumbers-distance-golf-ball-rollback-open-championship-asian-tour-qualifying

when asked about the possibility of the Dublin club becoming the first outside the UK to host the game’s oldest major. 

“The course is a world-class links. But there are infrastructure challenges.

“We are going to play the Women’s Amateur there in 2024 and we had the Amateur Championship there a couple of years ago. They have had the Walker Cup there, too.

“The position at the moment, which we support, is that the club is working with the Irish government to ascertain if there would be support for them to make a credible proposition.

“We will wait and see what happens there.” 

The R&A said last month it wishes to investigate the possibility of hosting The Open and the AIG Women's Open at the north Dublin links.  

"The R&A regularly stages championships and international matches throughout Great Britain and Ireland, including at Portmarnock, and have done for many years," an R&A spokesperson said in a statement. 

"We also work with Golf Ireland as the national body throughout the island of Ireland. 

“We would like to investigate the possibility of taking our professional championships to Portmarnock as well.

"Portmarnock is undoubtedly one of the world's outstanding links courses and we believe there is the potential to host our major championships there but it is essential that a full evaluation is carried out to assess whether it is feasible and what would be required to make it happen."

Portmarnock Golf Club plans to approach Government to seek its support for a formal approach by the club to The R&A.

Assessing the major demands involved in terms of traffic and infrastructure, club captain Niall Goulding said: "Without a detailed survey, it is not possible to verify the ability of the property to act as host to a major championship, given the significant infrastructural requirements of such an event.

"The Club has determined that Government support would be critical for a project of this magnitude and, consequently, will now approach the relevant Government authorities to establish their position on providing support for a formal application by Portmarnock to The R&A to host a major championship."