Date dilemma as Portrush gets thumbs up to host 2019 Open

Royal Portrush has been pencilled in for a return to the British Open rota in 2019 but in what has been an awkward and politically sensitive three-hand reel between the R&A, the Northern Ireland Executive and the club, it will be several months at least before a definitive date can be announced.

What is certain, however, is that what Darren Clarke likes to call “the biggest and best tournament in the world” returns to a remodelled Dunluce Links, it will present a new image of Northern Ireland.

As First Minister Peter Robinson eloquently put it, after years of “reputational damage”, Northern Ireland tell millions around the world, “this is what peace and stability looks like”.