Hopes of Portmarnock Golf Club being the first club outside of the United Kingdom to host an Open Championship appear to be on track after Mark Darbon, Chief Executive Officer of the R&A, said that the governing body is confident that the north Dublin venue is capable of catering to a tournament the size and scale of the Open.
Speaking at the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, Darbon was queried about Muirfield, which has hosted 16 Open Championships in total but none since 2013, and Portmarnock.
“I think we’re getting pretty close,” Darbon said when asked about the latest on the feasibility of staging the game’s oldest championship at a venue that has hosted 19 Irish Opens. “It’s a complicated venue because of the scale of The Open Championship. So there’s been a lot of great feasibility work with the golf club themselves, with the local authority, with government. We’ve undertaken a big feasibility study. That work is pretty much done. We’ve confirmed that we believe we can take an Open Championship there.”
He also hinted that the intention was to have Portmarnock move into regular rotation for both the Open Championship and Women’s Open should the infrastructural issues be solved in conjunction with the Irish government.
“What we’re looking to do is build a model that opens up opportunities for the AIG Women’s Open and The Open for many, many years to come,” he said. “So that’s the dialogue we’re in right now with the Irish government, and we’re optimistic that those discussions are heading in the right direction.”
It had been rumoured that the 2030 Open was a possibility when Portmarnock was first touted as an Open Championship venue, but more recent suggestions indicate that it will be at least a couple of years later if it does come as Darbon said that the process to date has taken longer than expected. But a clearer picture should emerge by the end of 2026.
“Time frame — look, in the spirit of transparency, it’s taken a bit longer than I think I and we thought it may, but it’s complicated doing all of that feasibility work,” he admitted. “We’re hoping to have a pretty clear view by the end of the year for sure.”
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