It sometimes feels like decades ago but there was a period of time (2010-2014) when this small part of the world seemed to be at the very centre of the golfing universe. The on-course success of Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke kept Irish golf firmly in the spotlight.
It was in this environment that Royal Portrush made it known that the club was interested in staging a European Tour event, bringing the Irish Open back north of the border for the first time since 1953.
As a tournament, the Irish Open had always been a significant event on the European Tour (now DP World Tour) schedule, but with the demise of the Celtic Tiger, the event was at something of a crossroads.
A move North, even for just one year, could go a long way to reinvigorating the tournament but as with most things in Northern Ireland getting it over the line took a fair bit of diplomacy and would ultimately involve significant commitments from governments north and south of the border, the players, Royal Portrush, and the European Tour.
Ten years on I’ve been chatting to some of the people behind the first ‘sold out’ tournament in the history of The European Tour.
John Bamber was the Tournament Chairman at Royal Portrush for both the Irish Open and more recently the Open Championship.
“Around 2007/2008 the club made a decision to look again at hosting a professional event,” said John.
“We spoke with the Tour about the Irish Open and we managed to get a meeting with Arlene Foster, who was then minister at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) along with a leading civil servant, David Sterling.
“We talked about hosting the event and incredibly they said it was a good idea. We happened just to hit at the right time. Other plans were in the pipeline to host the MTV Music Awards and the Giro.”
Further meetings were held with politicians on both sides of the divide at Stormont but while enthusiasm was high, the fact was that the European Tour had a long-term contract with the Irish Government to stage the tournament south of the border.
John added, “In fairness, it was the then Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, who signed off moving the tournament to the North for one year. The Irish economy had suffered badly in the recession. Had the Celtic Tiger still been in full flow, bringing it north would have been unlikely, but sometimes an ill wind, etc etc.”
Richard Hills, then Ryder Cup Director at the European Tour takes up the story.
“Rory McIlroy rightly gets a lot of kudos for his efforts in saving the Irish Open through his Foundation and the Dubai Duty-Free connection but there was quite a bit of saving the Irish Open before that,” said Richard.
“Ireland has a lot of friends in Wentworth and in the period after the financial crash when there was no main sponsor they were determined to keep it going with a lot of help from Failte Ireland and latterly Tourism NI.
“The Senior Open had been played in the North from the mid 90’s through to the to early 2000s so there was a history there.
“I recall vividly having a drink after the Irish Open in Killarney (2011) and George O’Grady asked the question – ‘Do you think the time is right that we could consider going North?’
“Portrush via Wilma Erskine (then Sect/Manager) had been courting the Tour and Enda said he would go away and think about it.
“We got a phone call just before Christmas in 2011 and early in the New Year, we went across to Belfast to meet with David Sterling and Wilma. That was also the first time that I met Arlene Foster. The formal announcement was made at Royal Portrush a few days later.
“It moved very quickly. There was a will and there was a window of opportunity.”
The job of staging the event fell to the European Tour’s Championship Director, Antonia Beggs.
“I was the staging director for the Ryder Cup at the time and I was kind of used to fitting square pegs in round holes when it came to delivering golf tournaments,” said Antonia who now works in sports marketing.
“I had been lucky that I had worked on some Irish Opens in the past and it always blew me away how the fans supported their national open compared to other countries. What kind of transpired for the Irish Open in 2012 was, I guess, the stars aligned and everyone looked beyond the remit of just finding a good golf course, getting a decent field and delivering a tournament.
“Instead it was how could we make it different with golf as our platform and that was the seeds around the event being hosted at Royal Portrush.
“We still had to allay fears that it was going to be a disaster, that no one was going to get there and it was going to be a shocker. It just proves that with planning, coordination and trust, anything is possible.”
John Bamber; “I remember going to a council meeting after the deal had been done and having this scary thought, ‘hang on here, we have to put this event on now and the spotlight is going to be on us after so many years without top-level professional golf in Northern Ireland’.
“The membership at the club bought into it from day one. There was a lot of enthusiasm and excitement and everyone just said we will make it work.
“The playability of the course was never going to be an issue. What became a bigger concern for the European Tour was that they didn’t expect that they would sell as many tickets as they did. They began to realise that with the topography of the course it was going to take some serious management.”
Antonia Beggs; “The ticket sales were something of a surprise (27,000 a day during the tournament) and it happened in the blink of an eye. Just think back to the pro-am. We had Bill Murray there who had flown over from the states. It was a day of slight insanity. Imagine, playing in that pro-am and there are 15,000 people on the ground watching? It must have been terrifying.”
The punters continued to flow in through the gates during tournament week even in the face of some testing weather conditions.
Richard Hills; “The absence of a tournament for such a long period of time definitely played into the large crowds. I remember the Saturday morning was a bit wet, wasn’t it? Kevin Feeney (one of the European Tour referees) was at the furthest extremity of the course and he offered two ladies a buggy ride back in and they politely declined, stating that they had, ‘waited a long time for this – they weren’t going to let a bit of rain put us off’.
Amongst the golf memorabilia dotted around John Bamber’s office is a framed letter from the organisers of a high-profile amateur event. Back in the days before the Irish Open, Royal Portrush was bidding to host events.
John Bamber; “We thought we had a very good chance to host it and we made it through to the final three but didn’t get the event. I got a letter from the organisers. They were expecting upwards of 10,000 people over the days of the tournament.
“The letter explained that having looked at the venue and the topography involved there was no way it could host an event with some 3.500 people coming through the doors every day. I bumped into them during The Open when we had 60,000 + people on the grounds daily…..”
Antonia Beggs; “The players were hugely positive. They were blown away by the people turning up. Ultimately, for professional athletes, a lot of the reason why they do stuff is to feel that connection and it was there in spades at Portrush.”
Unsurprisingly, the 2012 winner, Jamie Donaldson, wants to know when the Irish Open is returning to Royal Portrush.
Jamie Donaldson: “I missed out on playing in the Open Championship – what a shame – what a venue.
“Winning the Irish Open opened lots of doors for me. I was eligible to play in all the big events, it was a massive career booster.”
Beginning the fourth round with a one-shot lead, Donaldson birdied five of his last seven holes to shoot a fourth straight round in the 60s and finish clear of playing partner Anthony Wall (69), Rafael Cabrera-Bello (66) and Fabrizio Zanotti (66).
The victory, signed off with a 25-foot birdie on the last, put the seal on an event that had a resonance far beyond the reaches of a normal tournament.
“It was electric all week,” added Jamie.
“It was special. The massive crowds, they were unbelievable, it really felt like a proper event. Portrush was a great town and there was a good buzz.”
Without a doubt, the 2012 Irish Open paved the way for the Open Championship to return. The record-breaking crowds, the smooth event management, the general sense of goodwill and enthusiasm ensured that the R&A saw it as a viable option.
John Bamber; “We had all the luck in the world.
“We had the right political environment, that was vitally important. We had the support of the R&A and Peter Dawson who was open-minded about the opportunity. We had professionals competing at the highest levels around the world and we had supportive local, national and worldwide press.
“But ultimately, we had to prove that we could host the event. Without it, I strongly suggest that I could have been receiving a letter in 2013/2014 saying that they had looked into it but decided that the venue couldn’t accommodate in excess of 20,000 people every day.
“The Irish Open was the catalyst for 2019 and everything that has followed.”