Royal Portrush to hold 2019 Open Championship

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.

While it was announced last year that Royal Portrush would host an Open, no timeline was set at the time. The course is having new 17th and 18th holes built to bring them in line with the drama of the rest of the course by golf Architects Mackenzie & Ebert, while also freeing up space for the tented village.

Darren Clarke grew up in the region and Portrush is his home course. The next Ryder Cup Captain and 2011 Open Champion is going to be part of the announcement today. When it was originally announced that Royal Portrush would host an Open again he had this to say.

"It's a very, very special place - golfers and golf fans are in for a real treat - a lot of people have been working hard behind the scenes and I'm confident that any logistical problems can be overcome.

"One of the biggest sporting events in the world is coming to our country and it will provide a wonderful boost to the whole economy.”

Whilst it’s a small town, the course had 130,000 spectators over the course of the 2012 Irish Open. This is a massive deal for golf, as it shakes up the Open status quo for the first time since Hoylake was reintroduced, whilst it's a massive boost for Northern Ireland as a whole as it will generate millions of pounds for he local area. 

Portrush is also home to one of the best and most ridiculously vast nightspots we’ve ever had the pleasure of ending up in, Kellys. People normally bus in for a night at this gigantic warehouse of a pub-cum-nightclub, and it's bound to be the place to be that week, as it's over the road from the world famous course. 

Here’s 5 more courses we think should host The Open