'Good progress is being made' but Portmarnock not yet ready to stage major golf championship

The R&A has announced the 2028 Open tournament will return to Royal Lytham and St Annes for the first time in 16 years.

GETTING CLOSER: A general view of the 12th green during day one of the Irish Challenge Golf at Portmarnock Golf Links in Dublin. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.

Attendance at the Open Championship will surpass 300,000 for the first time when Royal Birkdale hosts the event this summer.

The previous record was 290,000 at St Andrews in 2022, but this summer’s projection will smash the previous best at the Southport links, which was 235,000 nine years ago.

In another boost for the north west, the R&A has announced the 2028 tournament will return to Royal Lytham and St Annes for the first time in 16 years.

However, the limitations of that site mean attendances will be much lower, with just 181,000 fans at the 2012 event.

“I’m delighted to announce this year’s Open Championship we will welcome our biggest ever attendance with more than 300,000 people attending,” said R&A chief executive Mark Darbon.

“We received more than one million applications in the ballot for tickets and that continues to demonstrate the worldwide appeal for our championship.”

On when the R&A may take the championship to Ireland for the first time, Darbon added: “We remain excited by the potential to stage both an AIG Women’s Open and an Open Championship at Portmarnock.

“It would be the first Open Championship in Ireland if we were to go, (but) it’s a complicated venue.

“Good progress is being made and we’re cautiously optimistic about the ability to stage major championships at that venue we’re hoping to bring some clarity to that by the end of this summer.”

And on the decision to take the championship back to Lytham, he added: “Lytham is a wonderful golf course. There’s been a series of changes which we and the club feel has continued to elevate the golfing experience.

“It’s not the easiest of our sites to operate and so we need to be very thoughtful about how we manage everything that goes with a modern Open Championship there.”

After the recent furore over £430 Ryder Cup tickets, Darbon said the R&A had a “significant undertaking” to ensure fans were not priced out.

“We have this unique challenge of ensuring that our championship remains open and accessible, while also needing to be thoughtful about the revenue and profit that it generates,” he said.

“I think we’ve managed that balance appropriately in terms of taking some price increases where we’ve needed to, but in a very measured fashion.” 

The R&A chief executive was unable to offer much clarity on when the Open would return to Muirfield (which last hosted in 2013) or Turnberry (2009) as both have infrastructure issues.

“We’ve got a great ongoing dialogue with Muirfield, I think we’re there for the Women’s Amateur this summer,” he added.

“As you know, in the same way that there are with many of our venues, there are some things that we need to overcome to facilitate a modern Open Championship.

“Turnberry is still in our thinking – we really like the golf course and we know that there are some logistical challenges primarily off the course (in terms of) road, rail and accommodation infrastructure.” 

Birkdale will look significantly different from the 2017 edition with a new par-three 15th hole, meaning the old par-five 15th is now the 14th, but the significant changes have only added 67 yards to make the course now 7,223 yards.

In addition to the new Last-Chance Qualifier, at which 12 players will contest one final place on the Monday of the tournament, the R&A also announced Tuesday will stage the Heroes Classic.

Former Birkdale Open winners Jordan Spieth and Pádraig Harrington, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose, will compete alongside AIG Women’s Open champion Miyu Yamashita, G4D champion Brendan Lawlor and high-profile figures from sport and entertainment.