R&A 'really optimistic' about hosting Open at Portmarnock
Late last year, the Irish government announced it would support Portmarnock's bid to host both the Open Championship and the AIG Women's Open, pledging up to €40 million in support.
Speaking in Portrush on the eve of the 2025 tournament, the third ever to be held on the island of Ireland, Darbon told reporters that the R&A were "thinking about" holding the Open championship at the north Dublin links.
"First one would say is that I've got one venue on my mind this week and it's Portrush, given it is my first Open Championship, and looking forward to delivering what we hope will be a successful event," explained Mr Darbon, who said in April that the R&A was "really optimistic" about the prospect of hosting The Open in Dublin.
"Yes, we are thinking about Portmarnock. We think it's a wonderful links golf course, and we've been really encouraged by the support that we've had in principle from the Irish government to work with us to understand whether we can stage an Open Championship there in the future.
"We're knee-deep in the feasibility work to help us answer that question fully. We expect to have a clearer picture by the back end of this year."
Were Portmarnock to stage the Open Championship, it would mark the first time that golf's oldest championship would be held outside the United Kingdom.
The north Dublin venue has held two major R&A events in recent years, the 2024 Women's Amateur Championship and 2019 Amateur Championship (Men) - the latter being won by Cork's James Sugrue.
Portmarnock was for years the de facto home of the Irish Open, hosting it 19 times in total and all bar three occasions between 1976 and 1990. It most recently staged the Irish Open in 2003.
Darbon also confirmed Saturday's tee times for this week's Open at Royal Portrush would have a "slight tweak" of about 15 minutes to ensure play finishes before a loyalist march in the town, but he declined to comment on reports the R&A had offered £20,000 for organisers to cancel.
The CEO revealed talks have taken place with the Trump Organisation about Turnberry's suitability to host The Open again.
The venue on Scotland's west coast has not hosted the major since its fourth visit in 2009 when Stewart Cink denied a then 59-year-old Tom Watson a fairytale sixth Claret Jug.
Donald Trump's company bought the resort in 2014 but, despite concerns about the circus which could surround the event should it host again while he was a sitting United States president, Darbon insists the lack of a return has more to do with infrastructure.
"I think we've been extremely clear on our position in respect of Turnberry. We love the golf course, but we've got some big logistical challenges there," he said.
"We've got some work to do on the road, rail and accommodation infrastructure around Turnberry.
"We've explicitly not taken it out of our pool of venues, but we'd need to address those logistical challenges should we return, so we've had good conversations with the ownership and the venue like we do with all of our venues.
"I met a couple of months ago with Eric Trump (executive vice-president of his father's Trump Organisation) and some of the leadership from the Trump golf organisation and from Turnberry.
"We had a really good discussion. I think they understand clearly where we're coming from.
"We talked through some of the challenges that we have, so we've got a good dialogue with them."
There were reports Trump, who is scheduled to make a state visit to the UK in September, had been petitioning the Government to step in to influence a decision on Turnberry's return to the Open rotation, but Darbon said the R&A remained sole arbiters.
"We've spoken to them specifically about Turnberry and I think they've made it clear that the decision around where we take our championship rests with us," added Darbon.
"I would find it difficult to predict whether there will be any discussion on The Open if the President is making a visit here."
Muirfield, another Scottish links which has not hosted in 12 years, faces similar logistical issues since overturning a vote not to admit women in 2017.
"We're in a discussion with the venue right now. There's some things that we need to evolve at Muirfield and there's some work we need to do with the venue to facilitate some of the infrastructure that we require," said Darbon.
With the next two Opens scheduled for St Andrews and Royal Birkdale, the next available slot is 2028.
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Irish Daily Mirror
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