Royal Portrush set for 'McIlroy Mania' as R&A address Turnberry's uncertain Open future

‘McIlroy Mania’ at Royal Portrush this summer will see 278,000 fans - the second largest in the history of the event and officially set to be the largest sporting event in Northern Ireland - attend The 153rd Open.

The 41,000 increase from the tournament’s return to the County Antrim venue in 2019 was announced by Mark Darbon, The R&A’s new chief executive, at a media day for this year’s Claret Jug event, which will be staged on July 17-20.

McIlroy, who shot a course-record 61 on the Dunluce Links as a 16-year-old amateur, suffered a disappointing missed cut on home soil six years ago after hitting his opening tee shot out of bounds.

The Holywood resident is now returning to Royal Portrush with “unfinished business” as The Masters champion and just the sixth player to complete golf’s career grand slam after his dramatic play-off victory at Augusta National a week past Sunday.

A view of the Claret Jug the 6th tee during the media day at Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland. Picture date: Tuesday April 22, 2025. | PA

Asked if some ‘McIlroy Mania’ had been factored into the huge attendance for the season’s final major, Darbon, who succeeded Martin Slumbers in November, said: “Well, I'm glad to say that our planning extends beyond just the last couple of weeks, so it's a number that we've been focused on for a good period of time now.

“We have huge demand for The Open Championship, something we're very proud of. I think we had just under 1.1 million applications for tickets this summer. We looked to increase the capacity from 2019. We're up just over 40,000 since that event and we're excited to enable more people to come and watch what we think will be a brilliant championship.”

McIlroy paid a flying visit to Belfast at the weekend to visit his parents Rosie and Gerry after they missed out on him finally claiming a Green Jacket at the 17th attempt and 11th since teeing up his chance to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in the career grand slam club.

“I think it's brilliant for the sport of golf, not just our own championship,” added Darbon of McIlroy’s feat. “It was an amazing emotional win and we're delighted to see Rory etch his name in the history books. I don't think we had to do anything significant in terms of an evolution to our plans.

“We were confident in the demand for this wonderful championship. So I think it just gives us a great run into our event and the championship season to follow this summer.”

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Tickets for The Open are now distributed through a ballot system and, while some might become available on a resale platform at any given time, the event is essentially sold out.

Asked if The R&A had any plans to honour McIlroy at Portrush, Darbon replied: “Well, I think we'd expect him to be very focused on performance when he's here.

“I've written to him recently to congratulate him. It's been a real privilege as part of this role getting to meet some of the elite players in our game and I've spent a little bit of time with Rory over the last few months.

“We know he's super excited to return here. He has some unfinished business on this course, so he'll be very focused on performance and we look forward to welcoming him.”

The 278,000 figure includes more than 27,000 tickets for under 16 year olds and reduced price tickets for fans under the age of 25 through The R&A’s long-standing Kids Go Free initiative.

“The 153rd Open will be the largest sporting event ever held in Northern Ireland,” declared Darbon, who was set to take over as Scottish Rugby’s CEO before being announced as Slumbers’ successor at the St Andrews-based governing body.

“It's expected to generate more than £210 million in economic benefit for the country. We're proud of the fact that The Open has a huge impact on the regions which host this wonderful event and this announcement is further validation of the huge impact and benefits that staging an Open Championship can bring to regions.”

A mural of Shane Lowry with the Claret Jug painted on a house near the entrance of Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland. Picture date: Tuesday April 22, 2025. | PA

The last time the Claret Jug event was held at Turnberry was in 2009, when 59-year-old Tom Watson came agonisingly close to becoming golf’s oldest major winner before losing in a play-off to fellow American Stewart Cink.

The Ayrshire venue, of course, is now owned by US President Donald Trump and it remains to be seen when the event will return to the Ailsa Course, where more improvements have been made over the winter by Martin Ebert.

“We want The Open to be genuinely open and accessible,” said Darbon, the former CEO of top rugby side Northampton Saints. “We want to tell brilliant stories from what we think is a wonderful championship. Turnberry is a wonderful golf course and I think some of the recent improvements there have made it even better.

“It's a course that we'd love to return to at some point. Given the scale of a modern Open, we have to be really thoughtful about some of the logistical and commercial challenges and opportunities that come with staging an event like this.

“Turnberry is a brilliant golf course and a wonderful place to tell stories about our game. Where we have some challenges is around the logistical and commercial challenges. I think the last time we were there in 2009, we had just over 120,000 people and we're going to have close to 280,000 here this summer.

“That's really important for us because not only do we want to showcase this wonderful championship to as many people as possible, but it's important for us in terms of our commercial model because everything that we generate from The Open, we then reinvest back into the game all around the world. So we've got a few challenges at Turnberry.

“The road, rail and accommodation infrastructure presents some challenges if we wish to scale our operation there. But we've got a good dialogue with the ownership group and we'll continue to look at feasibility as we move forward. We'd love to return at some stage.”

Is Trump himself a factor bearing in mind he turned the 2015 Women’s Open into a circus by turning up during it? “I think the key issue for us at the moment is these logistical and commercial challenges,” added Darbon. “We're trying to explore ways to get around those or to mitigate them for the future. Of course, when it comes to a championship like this, we also want the focus to be on the golf and so that's a factor, too.”

The Dunluce Course has been extended by 37 yards from 2019, when Shane Lowry stormed to a six-shot victory over Tommy Fleetwood, through new tees being built at the fourth and seventh.