Portmarnock could take Irish Open into new golden era

PORTMARNOCK is to Irish golf what Croke Park is to the GAA, the Millennium Stadium to Welsh rugby, Lords to English cricket (if such a thing exists any more!), Aintree to horse racing.

You get the drift.

Over the years, the north Dublin links has earned the status as one of the best and fairest golf courses in the world. It may lack the splendour of Ballybunion and Lahinch and the eye catching beauty of Royal Co Down and Waterville, but for sheer honesty and fairness, there are few if any to touch the great link course on this remarkable spit of linksland looking out on Ireland’s Eye and the Irish Sea.

That it should ever have disappeared from the Irish Open rota for the past 12 years was nothing less than a shame. The plug wasn’t pulled because of any deficiencies on Portmarnock’s part, rather was it a case of a changing financial situation. Prior to 1990, when Jose Maria Olazabal captured the last Irish Open to be played there, the practice was for the sponsor to pay the host venue to compensate them for all the inconvenience caused before, during and after the tournament.

Everything changed and that arrangement took a 360 degrees turn. Instead, it was the golf course forking out for the privilege of staging the event and as a member’s club, Portmarnock couldn’t afford it. There are other reasons why the Ryder Cup isn’t going there in 2006, chief among them being the fact that it is an all male club, but Portmarnock also blew out of the water a request from the European Tour for support money in the region of €1million.

Murphys looked at the possibility of bringing the Irish Open back there in the mid 90s but the pair apparently fell out over a relatively minor matter concerning the protection of the course’s boundaries. It looked as if big time golf might never again grace a links that had hosted, among many other major occasions, the 1960 Canada (later World) Cup won for the United States by the legendary Sam Snead and Arnold Palmer; the Alcan International and Dunlop Masters, every major amateur championship, including the 1947 British Amateur Championship and of course, 18 Irish Opens.

However, hastily arranged talks over the past few weeks have borne fruit and just about everybody who holds the tournament dear are absolutely delighted at the news. If a satisfactory financial package can be put in place on a long term basis with Portmarnock (or other suitable links) as the regular headquarters, then I firmly believe the Irish Open could be about to enter a new, golden era. That, in my view, is the cachet Portmarnock brings to the country’s flagship event.

Nobody will be more pleased at yesterday’s announcement than the players. Not once since the event was inaugurated in 1927 until it was last played there in 1990 has a single word of criticism been heard about the golf course. Mark James didn’t defend one year because he felt Dublin city was too far away for his wife to go shopping and others moaned about how difficult it was to make a quick getaway on the Sunday night. Where the course itself was concerned, however, nothing but unstinting praise.

There are many reasons for this. First and foremost, this is a links where 95% of the time, the challenge is laid out before you. What you see is what you get. The 5th is the only fairway that the golfer cannot see from the tee. Unlike others of the genre, it has retained the kind of links turf that makes golf by the sea so extra special. After a relatively quiet start with three easy enough par fours, the round gradually gains momentum at the longish 4th., accelerates with the 600 yards 6th before the outward journey closes with two sterling par fours that bring the golfer back to the clubhouse, another plus where a major professional promotion is concerned.

The back nine consists of one fine hole after another. Most rate the par three 15th running alongside the beach as Portmarnock’s signature and it certainly has many outstanding characteristics, not least that superb swail to the left of the green that welcomes so many fainthearted tee shots fearful of ending up over the out of bounds fence on the right. Furthermore, at 7,350 yards and with an ever present wind as added protection, Portmarnock has the length to cope with the modern equipment that helps make today’s professionals so effective.

Gary Player was at the height of his powers when he shot seven under 65 there in the 1960 Canada Cup and it’s a mark that was equalled on quite a few occasions in subsequent Irish Opens. Perhaps even that figure will be lowered next July.

If it is, so what? It only goes to show how good these guys are. What is not at stake is Portmarnock’s reputation as one of the world’s finest. That will never be compromised.