R&A "cautiously optimistic" about Portmarnock as it awards 2028 Open to Royal Lytham and St Annes
The 18th at Portmarnock Golf Club. Picture: Portmarnock GC
The 2028 Open will be staged at Royal Lytham and St Annes, but R&A chief executive Mark Darbon admits he's "cautiously optimistic" about Portmarnock's chances of hosting the game's oldest Major.
The north Dublin links have been mooted as a venue for the AIG Women's Open as early as 2028, and for The Open itself in 2030.
Much will depend on feasibility studies into the venue being carried out by the R&A, and while Mr Darbon said at a media facilitation day today that progress has been slower than he'd hoped, more clarity could come by the summer.
"We remain excited by the potential to stage both an AIG Women's Open and an Open Championship at Portmarnock," he said at Royal Birkdale, which hosts the 154th Open from 16-19 July.
"As you know, it's a wonderful golf course, and it would be a first for us. There is a long history of R&A championships in Ireland, but it would of course be the first Open Championship there if we were to go.
"It's a complicated venue, so what we've been doing over recent months is undertaking a really significant body of feasibility work.
"If I'm honest, it's taken us slightly longer than we originally envisaged, but good progress is being made, and I would say we're cautiously optimistic about the ability to stage major championships at that venue.
"We're hoping to bring some clarity to that by the end of this summer.
"I should acknowledge the wonderful support that we've had from the Irish government in terms of supporting us on that feasibility work and their excitement around the potential for championships more broadly."
As for 2028, Royal Lytham & St Annes will host the 156th Open with Donald Trump's Turnberry links and famed Muirfield remaining out in the cold.
The game's oldest major, which will be played from 30 July to 6 August to avoid clashing with the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, marks its return to the Blackpool links for the first time since Ernie Els lifted the Claret Jug there in 2012.
"Royal Lytham & St Annes is widely renowned as one of the world's finest links courses and has witnessed many great championship moments since The Open was first played there in 1926, when the legendary Bobby Jones won," Mr Darbon said.
"This is one of golf's most cherished and historic venues, and The Open's return to these famous links will spark huge interest among fans to be part of one of the world's great sporting events and celebrate the rich traditions of golf's original Championship."
The return of Royal Lytham means the wait for The Open goes on for Muirfield and Turnberry.
Turnberry last hosted The Open in 2009, five years before President Trump bought the resort, and while he has invested €230 million in improving the Ailsa Course, the R&A appears reluctant to return.
Asked today about Turnberry and Muirfield's futures as Open venues, Mr Darbon said dialogue was "ongoing".
He had previously explained that the decision not to return to Turnberry had nothing to do with the US president's ownership of the course but rather with logistics, noting that the 120,000 attendance in 2009 was dwarfed by the 280,000 at Royal Portrush in 2024.
Muirfield, which hosted The Open for the 16th time in 2013, also remains on the sidelines for similar reasons.
The lack of suitable practice facilities and the fact that the Genesis Scottish Open will be staged at The Renaissance Club next door until 2030 are two stumbling blocks.
Royal Lytham, in contrast, has undergone significant change since it last staged The Open, with a new practice ground and the lengthening of the par-five 11th to 601 yards among the improvements.
