Darren Clarke: Portrush Open a dream come true

Darren Clarke confessed that never in his wildest dreams during the “dark days” of the Troubles could he have imagined the Open Championship returning to Northern Ireland.

However, with the R&A announcing at Royal Portrush yesterday that the 148th Open will be played over a redesigned Dunluce links from 18-21 July 2019, the 2011 Open champion believes the “biggest and best tournament in the world” will be played on a course that will soon be considered one of the top five on the planet.

While it’s been known since July last year that The Open was coming back to Portrush for the first time since 1951, Clarke hailed official confirmation of the 2019 date as “absolutely huge for Northern Ireland and, indeed, Ireland as a whole”.