news // edited by john antonini
OPen VenUes
A return to Portrush is
not out of the question
�� Every April for several years now,
a somewhat sad exchange played out
during the R&A’s pre-British Open
press day at the host club. An Irish
reporter would ask about the Open
crossing the Irish Sea, perhaps to 1951
site Royal Portrush. The answer, polite but firm: No. In 2007, then director
of championships David Hill went so
far as to say the Irish Republic was
out because “[It] is referred to as The
Open Championship played in Great
Britain” (technically, Royal Portrush
is in the United Kingdom).
But eyebrows raised last Wednes-
day when R&A chief executive Peter
Dawson answered three questions
early in his press conference at
Royal St. George’s, saying Portrush is
“certainly something we’ll have a look
at again in view of the success of the
golfers from that part of the world.”
And the eyebrows went higher the
morning after Darren Clarke’s victory
when Dawson flat-out proclaimed: “I
have agreed to take a look.”
The R&A’s previous hesitation
stemmed in part from its reliance on
a set Open rota. Its counterparts at
the USGA are far more adept at the
tabletop simulations that go into new
or rediscovered sites—the staff made
Bethpage a smash hit and noodled
Merion “what ifs” for about a decade
before awarding the Pennsylvania
course the 2013 U.S. Open.
Still, the R&A has some experience reviving moribund sites and
those heading that way. In the last
15 years it teamed with a variety of
local entities to make the small town
of Carnoustie viable, wrangled extra
land adjacent to Royal Liverpool to
end a four-decade banishment and
fixed a traffic bottleneck that threatened to keep railway-free Turnberry
out of reach.
Asked Monday morning what Portrush lacked, Dawson replied: “The
usual mixture of a great course and
plenty of infrastructure combined
with a prospect of commercial suc-
cess is what’s needed.”
There is no question the Dunluce
links course can handle the world’s
best players. The more important
performer is the club’s adjacent Valley
links layout as a parking lot, tented vil-
lage and course-entry buffer. Is there
enough housing and transportation?
Will corporate hospitality pick up the
financial slack at a facility that may
bulge at 25,000 spectators a day?
Dawson baldly hinted the European
Tour could help assess Portrush by,
say, taking the Irish Open there. Considering the 2006 Ryder Cup’s success
at the K Club and the relative calm of
the political and religious strife, it’s a
good chance the tour will jump at the
prospect.—Brett Avery
acers
Six-year-old acer
makes her mark
�� Six-year-old Reagan Kennedy
might not be the youngest girl to
make a hole-in-one, but she’s almost
certainly the youngest acer to be
named after two presidents from
different parties. And unless Dustin
Johnson or Tom Watson made their
holes-in-one at the British Open with
a SpongeBob SquarePants-logoed
golf ball, she’s certainly the first to
make an ace with that cartoon char-
acter on her ball.
david cannon/Getty imaGes ; david proeber /ap photo; dom Furore
