'I think it would be incredibly special': Harrington welcomes R&A's Portmarnock update 

Shane Lowry and Padraig Harrington of Ireland during a practice round ahead of The 154th Open Championship. Pic: Peter Byrne/PA Wire.

Padraig Harrington welcomed the R&A’s positivity to bringing The Open Championship to Portmarnock as the governing body’s CEO said his organisation was “getting pretty close” to settling on a date to stage the oldest major outside of the UK for the first time in its storied history.

Two-time champion Harrington is in the field for this week’s 154th Open at Royal Birkdale, which gets underway on Thursday morning, and where R&A boss Mark Darbon confirmed the Dublin links had been passed fit to stage one of the biggest events in golf.

Speaking on Wednesday at the R&A press conference, Darbon said a firm decision on a date for a Portmarnock Open was due by the end of the year but admitted that nailing down a timeline had taken longer than initially expected, though talks with the Irish Government were heading in the right direction.

That was well received by Dubliner and three-time major winner and reigning US Senior Open champion Harrington.

“First of all, I'd love it to happen in my time," the 54-year-old said, before referring to the end of his automatic exemption into the championship as a former winner.

“If it's after 2032, I'll have to go into a qualifier and don't worry, I will.

“I think it would be incredibly special. By that stage, I will be signing off and waving at the crowds and it would be very nice to play an Open Championship.

“But I have already played an Open Championship in front of home crowds, last year in Portrush, we played twice up there. I've always had a fantastic welcome there. So I don't feel like I haven't played in front of home crowds.

“Clearly, playing in Dublin, where I'm from, would be very special. Playing in Portmarnock, very special. It's a nice step forward. When it came to Portrush, it was exceptional. When it comes to Portmarnock, it will be exceptional in the same vein.

“Portmarnock would be just an unbelievable venue. When it's held an Irish Open, there's just no other venue. It'd be the only Open in a capital city. So the crowds, the atmosphere, people who come out, the golf course is fantastic.

“It's capable of the space, it's capable of hosting an event of that size. It's unusual the golf course is very fair, which is strange for a links golf course. It’s actually got quite flat fairways and flat greens.

“So I think players will like it. It's not a tricky golf course in any shape or form. Maybe 14 is the only one that you could describe as being quirky enough. Outside of that, I think players will love the event, love the venue.

“I think spectators will love it. I think it will be a great Irish Open and if it can match up to Portrush, wouldn't that be great? There's a high standard there on the island, Portrush has been a great Open and I do believe Portmarnock will.” 

 The Open has visited Irish shores three times with Co. Antrim’s Royal Portrush staging on each occasion in 1951, 2019 and 2025 with Portmarnock mooted as a realistic potential venue since it dropped its male-only members stipulation in 2021.

“I think we're getting pretty close,” Darbon said. “It's a complicated venue because of the scale of The Open Championship. So there's been a lot of great feasibility work with the golf club themselves, with the local authority, with government.

“We've undertaken a big feasibility study. That work is pretty much done. We've confirmed that we believe we can take an Open Championship there.

“What we're looking to do is build a model that opens up opportunities for the AIG Women's Open and The Open for many, many years to come. So that's the dialogue we're in right now with the Irish government, and we're optimistic that those discussions are heading in the right direction.

“Time frame… look, in the spirit of transparency, it's taken a bit longer than I think I and we thought it may, but it's complicated doing all of that feasibility work. We're hoping to have a pretty clear view by the end of the year for sure.”