Mark Darbon, Chief Executive of The R&A, says that there is a great opportunity to stage an AIG Women’s Open at Portmarnock while Royal Portrush is also part of the potential pool of venues after a superb hosting of two Open Championships in 2019 and 2025.
However, it had been hoped that Portmarnock would get the vacant 2028 slot for the AIG Women’s Open after a successful hosting of the Women’s Amateur Championship in 2024, but that has been snubbed in favour of Sunningdale.
“We’re looking at Portmarnock,” Darbon said at the AIG Women’s Open Media Day at Royal Lytham & St Annes. “We think that as part of that dialogue and our conversations with the Irish government and with the club, that there’s a great opportunity to stage an AIG Women’s Open in Ireland at some point. We’ll continue to assess our choices, but we’re very proud of that pool of venues.”
Royal Portrush has become a big venue for the R&A in recent years. Aside from the two Open Championships, the R&A Amateur Championship will be coming to the Dunluce Links next year so it would make sense that it would be considered for an AIG Women’s Open.
“We are considering the pool of venues as we look to the future,” Darbon added. “Portrush is a magnificent championship venue, and we’ve got a great relationship there, as you know.”
The R&A Amateur Championship was last in Ireland two years ago in Ballyiffin, while the Jacques Leglise Trophy will be in The Island this summer as will the Walker Cup in Lahinch. But there remains no sign of the Open or AIG Women’s Open coming to Ireland at the moment with a further update expected later in the season.
Nothing across the pond and nothing up the road either. It will be four years since the AIG Women’s Open docked in Scotland when it arrives in Sunningdale in 2028 although the Women’s Amateur is coming to Muirfield this summer.
The championship operates at a loss for the R&A but Darbon and co remain committed to continuing to elevate the event with a record $10m prize pot confirmed for this year while more than 50,000 spectators are expected to attend this summer.
“We’re really proud of the growth that we’ve seen in terms of both live attendance and the broadcast and digital audience over recent years, and we look at both of those things as being critical to the proposition,” said Darbon.
“We’re expecting this summer to have comfortably more than 50,000 people here. That will create again sustained growth for this proposition. We’ve got a great catchment area close to the venue here, but we know that we put on a
global audience more broadly, people travel to this event from all across the UK and beyond, and to bring that to life,
we’re also alongside our investment in the player experience, we continue to prioritise the spectator experience that we deliver on-site.
“So we want people to come here, see the world’s best golfers perform, but also wrap that experience to create a
memorable day more broadly. I remember being at Porthcawl last year, the way we set up the village with the range and the practice facility at its heart, a chance for young people to pick up a club and engage with this game, building on the momentum and the inspiration that they see on the course itself. That investment will remain for us, and we continue to
expect audiences to grow over time.”
Leave a comment