Major setback for Portrush

Royal Portrush’s hopes of staging an Open Championship in the near future have received a massive setback in the wake of comments by R&A chief executive Peter Dawson yesterday.

The bubble of optimism that had been growing for the return of major championship golf to the revered Antrim links for the first time since the 1951 Open did not receive a fatal puncture yesterday during an R&A press conference at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

Yet in spite of the record-breaking crowds of more than 110,000 that contributed to the success of this year’s Irish Open around the Dunluce Links course three weeks ago, Dawson’s words on the eve of the 2012 Open suggested the chances of the R&A’s flagship championship returning to Irish shores were contingent on Royal Portrush finding solutions to his organisation’s logistical concerns and the considerable resources to implement them.