By Ryan Herrington
As the iconic yellow leaderboards reminded everyone on Sunday at Royal St. George’s, the Open Championship will celebrate its 150th playing next year at St. Andrews. From there, the R&A has announced that Royal Liverpool and Royal Troon will host golf’s oldest tournament in 2023 and 2024.

As for 2025, while nothing is official, multiple reports in the U.K. and Ireland last weekend hinted that the R&A is leaning toward returning to Royal Portrush after the Northern Ireland course hosted most recently in 2019.

“I’m delighted it’s coming back to Northern Ireland and the smart money is on 2025,” Ian Paisley, North Antrim MP and vice-chairman of the All Parliamentary Group for Golf, told the BBC. “The resources are in place to have another successful Open. … All signals indicate the R&A are behind Royal Portrush.”

Paisley was in attendance at The Open at Sandwich, England, this past week with the purpose, he said, of helping boost interest in the event back in Northern Ireland.

That wouldn’t seem to be a difficult task. When Royal Portrush hosted the Open for the first time in 68 years back in 2019, 237,500 spectators came during the week generating £100 million in revenue, according to the Belfast Telegraph. Expectations are that returning just six years later wouldn’t dampen enthusiasm for the championship.

The last time a venue outside of the Old Course at St. Andrews hosted the Open again so quickly was Royal St. George’s when it held the championship in 1981 and then repeated as host four years later in 1985.

The post Open Championship likely to return to Royal Portrush in 2025 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Royal St. George’s is set to host The Open for the 15th time after the 149th edition was put on ice for 12 months 

By Kent Gray
After Hideki Matsuyama’s historic Masters moment, attention switches to the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island and this month’s U.S. PGA Championship. But for lovers of links golf and the glory of The Open, July can’t roll around soon enough. After being put on ice for 12 months due to COVID-19, the return to Royal St. George’s Golf Club for the 149th Open is palpably anticipated. The snow that blanketed Sandwich in early February will be gone but count on some sort of weather event playing its part in the outcome of the 2021 edition of the oldest – and grandest – major. Who will etch their name alongside J.H. Taylor, Harry Vardon (twice), Walter Hagan (twice), Henry Cotton, Bobby Locke, Sandy Lyle, Greg Norman and 2011 winner Darren Clarke (among others) as the ‘Champion Golfer of the Year’ at England’s first Open venue?

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By Joel Beall
The R&A said it plans to host a “significant number of fans” for the Open Championship.

In a statement on Tuesday, R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers addressed the sport on the R&A’s attendance plans for its flagship event. Citing the growing vaccine rollout in the United Kingdom, Slumers said the Open, which was the only major championship postponed last year due to the pandemic, will welcome back fans this summer at Royal St George’s Golf Club.

“I would like to be able to give greater clarity on our plans at this stage but we recognise that a number of important decisions have still to be made by the government, on issues such as social distancing, testing and Covid certification, which will have a significant bearing on the potential level of attendance at the championship,” Slumbers said. “In the meantime, we are emailing our ticketholders and hospitality purchasers with more information about their tickets. We are contacting international ticketholders to assist them with refund options if they are unable to travel due to international travel restrictions.

“I fully recognize the challenges that awaiting further guidance causes for our fans, players, volunteers and officials and appreciate that it is making it difficult for people to confirm their plans just yet. I apologize for any inconvenience this is causing and thank you for your patience and understanding as we work through the process and respond to the government guidance as it emerges. We will provide further updates in the coming weeks.”

Augusta National welcomed back a limited number of patrons for this year’s Masters, with the PGA of America expected to host around 10,000 fans at next week’s PGA Championship. The USGA is also bringing back fans to June’s U.S. Open, although residents outside of California will need to show proof of vaccination.

Slumbers continued that the R&A is working with government and public health authorities to ensure it complies fully with all emerging guidelines.

“Our end goal remains to stage a fantastic Open at Royal St George’s and give our fans and players something to be genuinely thrilled about this summer. It has been too long since we have been able to see the world’s best men’s golfers competing on one of our greatest links courses and I’m sure you are looking forward as eagerly as I am to what will be a truly memorable sporting occasion.”

This year’s Open begins July 15. Shane Lowry is the defending champ.

The post R&A plans on hosting ‘significant number of fans’ for 2021 Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.