Home stars shout praises of Portrush on special weekend

You only have to listen to the emotion in Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell’s voices when they talk about the Irish Open arriving in Royal Portrush to understand that this week is about much more than a golf tournament.

The sell-out crowds for all four rounds as well as the remarkable figure of 14,225 spectators for yesterday’s Pro-Am, indicate that two of Ulster’s favourite sons are talking for the entire local community up here on the Antrim coast.

“The Irish Open has always been one of my favourite tournaments and to have it here in Royal Portrush, with this amount of people here already coming to the tournament; sold out for the first time in European Tour history; and to look out and see all the stands around, and the people around makes me very, very proud,” Clarke said yesterday ahead of his first round today.