The R&A has announced that Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland will host the Open Championship in 2019, only the second time golf’s oldest major will have been played outside England and Scotland.
The course has not hosted a major championship since the 1951 Open won by Max Faulkner, but the Irish Open drew large crowds there in 2012.
In August last year, club members voted overwhelmingly in favour of the course changes required to host the event, which will be staged from July 18-21.
The decision is something of a coup for Northern Ireland and its professional players including Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell, all of whom have lobbied on Portrush’s behalf.
Both McIlroy and Clarke have no doubt that the course will be a fitting venue.
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“It’s one of my favourite golf courses in the world. I think it will be fantastic,” McIlroy said.
“They are going to add a couple of new holes to the golf course and I think that will be a great addition and will make the course even stronger. I’m really looking forward to it,” he added.
Clarke, the European Ryder Cup captain, said it would be “absolutely huge” for Northern Ireland and Ireland as a whole.
“To have the world’s biggest and best golf Championship played at such a fantastic venue as Royal Portrush, with all the passion that the Irish fans will bring to the event, is going to be amazing,” he said.
The Open is expected to be the biggest sporting event ever held in Northern Ireland and could generate up to £70 million (€95 million) for the local economy.
See McIlroy eyes shot at home success in Open in Sport