One of our favourite links courses, Royal Portrush is set to return to the Open Rota later today. The R&A are set to name it as the course for the 2019 Open Championship, for the first time since Max Faulkner won there in 1951.
The course the best in the world will take on this week will arguably be a stiffer test to that which faced Max Faulkner when he won the Open when it was last hosted by Royal Portrush way back in 1951. It will be a slightly tougher test than when a sixteen year old Rory McIlroy took it apart when shooting 61.
They needed it to be tough out there if they were going to challenge Shane Lowry but in the end, it was too tough and the conditions actually played in to the hands of the big man. For a man who grew up playing links golf up and down Ireland he was always going to be one of best equipped if the really high winds came.
The Open is less than a week away and so what better than a fine bit of Golf Porn from the fantastic links at Royal Portrush. 15th Hole, Par 4, 426 yards
The Open is coming back to Northern Ireland after a break of 68 years. When Max Faulkner, one of the most flamboyant golfers of his generation, won the Open Championship in 1951 at Royal Portrush it would be 18 years until a Brit, Tony Jacklin in 1969, was to do so again.
Hughie's is the 416 yards, par 4 first hole on the Royal Portrush course. There is out of bounds on both sides of the hole with most golfers most concerned with that on the right. However, as there are bunkers on the right and left of the fairway at 262 yards and 291 yards respectively, most pros will go with an iron.
Every golfer loves a drop zone, except for the ones where you’ve just plonked it into the middle of that lake or alligator infested swamp! The pros in particular like it when there find themselves in or around a grandstand and they simply walk to a nicely mown little patch close by. Fast forward to Royal Portrush and the venue for the 2019 Open Championship.
The Ryder Cup will be going on a 'Trophy Tour' around Europe to build up support for Darren Clarke's team ahead of this year's contest at Hazeltine.
A front nine of such resplendent grace, your heart could stop and you would not notice... In the week the Open comes to Royal Portrush GolfPunk recalls its splendid neighbour Portstewart Golf Club - You Little Beauty
Darren Clarke will hit the opening tee shot at The 148th Open, while fellow local favourite Rory McIlroy is paired with US Open champion Gary Woodland for the opening two rounds at Royal Portrush, which we cannot wait to see!
Ireland’s Shane Lowry produced what he called "one of the most incredible days of my life" shooting an eight-under-par 63 that gives him a four-shot lead going into the final day of the Open at Royal Portrush! Englishman Tommy Fleetwood is the closest rival on 12 under after a 66 with JB Holmes third on 10 under. World number one Brooks Koepka and Justin Rose sit one further back but there are tough weather conditions forecast for the final day.
The fairy tale has slowly unwound. Local boy, Darren Clarke, who led the field off on Thursday in the 148th Open Championship, took seven at the last to miss the cut. Rory McIlroy, who famously shot 61 around Royal Portrush at the age of 16, shot 65, equalling best score of the day, but agonisingly missed the cut by one. And our man, Gmac, held firm just making it through on the cut line, nine back from the leader.
