Northern Ireland embraces British Open’s return
British Open comes back to Northern Ireland after 68 years
PORTRUSH, IRELAND Home favourite Darren Clarke will hit the first tee shot at the Open Championship on Thursday when the tournament returns to Northern Ireland for the first time in 68 years.
As in 1951, the picturesque links course at Royal Portrush is the host venue, having undergone extensive logistical and infrastructure upgrades to get in shape for a modern major championship.
All four days are sold out, with fans in one of golf ’s true heartlands relishing the chance to see the world’s best take on a challenging course.
“It’s a huge thing for all the Irish golfers, for Northern Ireland, for me, that lives here a little bit, to have the Open Championship,” said Clarke, the 2011 winner.
“This is huge. This is the biggest and best tournament in the world,” he added.
Since Englishman Max Faulkner’s 1951 win at the course in County Antrim, the open has been rotated around Scottish and English courses with Northern Ireland off-limits for many years during to the security situation in the country.
With some 3,600 people, many of them civilians, losing their lives during three decades of sectarian violence, the idea of hosting a global sports event in the region was nothing more than a fantasy during “The Troubles.”
But since the Good Friday Agreement signed in April 1998, which created a power-sharing assembly and government for Northern Ireland and the decommissioning of weapons held by the main militant groups, golf authorities have been looking at how they might make a return.
Clarke needs no reminders about how dangerous life was during the Troubles. He narrowly escaped a bomb himself just before Christmas 1986 while working as a bartender at a nightclub in his hometown of Dungannon.
Bombers gave a half-hour warning before a car bomb exploded outside the venue, where Clarke had been setting up the bar.
“The bomb scare at 8:30, everybody out, bomb went off at 9 and the place was flattened,” Clarke said.
“That was life in Northern Ireland. Bombs were going off quite frequently. And a lot of people, unfortunately, paid a heavy penalty for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But that was our life back there at that stage,” he added.
Clarke said the idea of playing host to the open in the 1980s was never even considered.
“It was beyond the realms of possibility. It was just never going to happen. So to get to this point ... has been an incredible journey given what we’ve all come through,” he said.
While he harbours ambitions of pulling off a surprise win on a course he knows very well, Clarke is also delighted to have been handed the symbolic first shot.
“Will there be tears? No. I’ll just be very proud that we have it back here in Northern Ireland. It goes without saying, it’s a huge thing to have it back here in Northern Ireland again,” he said.
“It’s going to be an amazing tournament. If you see how many people were in here (on Sunday) watching and again today and all the practice tickets are all sold out. The atmosphere is going to be sensational.”
FAST HELPED MICKELSON DROP 15 POUNDS
Phil Mickelson said in a video posted to his Twitter feed that he wanted to do everything possible to be his best at Royal Portrush, site of the Open Championship this week.
That included a six-day fast during which he allowed himself only a special coffee blend for nutrition and water.
“I haven’t been my best and I’m doing all I can to get it right,” the 49-year-old Mickelson said.
Mickelson has not posted a top15 finish since winning at Pebble Beach in February. Since tying for 18th at the Masters, he has missed the cut in four of his last six tournaments. Mickelson won the British Open at Muirfield in 2013 and has been preparing for this week’s challenges on and off the course.
“The last 10 days I’ve done what I call a hard reset to change and try and make things better,” he said.
WOODS PAIRED WITH REED FOR OPENING ROUND
Tiger Woods tees off at 10:10 a.m. ET Thursday in the first round of the Open Championship.
Woods is paired with Patrick Reed and Matthew Wallace.
He’s been on the grounds in Northern Ireland for more than a week, syncing his body with the time zone and getting familiar with the layout.
A three-time British Open champion, Woods played 18 holes with Reed on Sunday.
On Monday. he played another 18 with Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler.
Woods hasn’t played in a tournament since the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach a month ago.
“The breaks are always great for my golf,” Woods said Monday, noting he’s following the plan he shared late last year to trim back the number of tournaments he enters in hopes of competing for the entire season.
Woods won his 15th major at the Masters in April. He claimed the Claret Jug by winning the British Open in 2000, 2005 and 2006, but missed the cut at the PGA Championship in May. He tied for 21st at the U.S. Open.
Local favourite Rory McIlroy is paired with U.S. Open winner Gary Woodland and Paul Casey. McIlroy set the Portrush course record of 61 when he was 16 years old. McIlroy said he’s entirely comfortable on the challenging course, which “just feels like Portrush to me.”
McIlroy hasn’t won a major in five years, but said winning this week would be a career-defining achievement in his mind.
“Never in a million years did I think that an Open Championship would be played again at Royal Portrush,” he said.
Defending champion Francesco Molinari and Bryson DeChambeau are in a group with Adam Scott and will tee off one group before McIlroy’s.
Charles Howell III, who tied for sixth Sunday at the John Deere Classic, withdrew from the field Monday and was replaced by Brian Harman.
It was beyond the realms of possibility. It was just never going to happen. So to get to this point ...