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R&A to confirm Portrush as Open venue

JUST over a month after insisting it remained "some distance" from being able to stage the Open in Northern Ireland, the r&a will today reveal details of how royal Portrush will host the championship in 2019. Rumours of the Open returning to royal Portrush have been circulating for some time, with reports on May 11 claiming a deal had been done for 2019, 68 years after Max Faulkner won the only Open staged outside England and Scotland. The R&A's response on twitter labelled such reports as "Portrush rumours" and a statement issued later read: "as part of our commitment to examine the feasibility of staging an Open Championship at Portrush, the r&a continues to discuss this at a conceptual level with royal Portrush Golf Club and the northern Ireland Executive.

"Discussions have been positive but we are still some distance from being in a position to take the Open to northern ireland."

However, the reports proved to be accurate, even down to the date of the announcement today, which has been timed to coincide with the first day of the amateur Championship which is being staged at Portrush and Portstewart. The R&A had held concerns over whether Portrush could cope with the infrastructure required to stage a Major championship, but the irish Open was successfully staged in front of massive crowds there in 2012 and the likes of Major champions Rory Mcilroy, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell have been lobbying on the course's behalf. The main issue to be resolved is the design of two new holes to replace the current 17th and 18th, which are expected to be used to accommodate a tented village during the Open.

One option is for two holes to be inserted into the front nine from ground on the neighbouring Valley course, meaning the current 16th hole would become the 18th. Another likely topic at today's press conference is the potential for disorder in mid-July, which is the height of marching season.

Police Service of northern Ireland chief constable Matt Baggott spoke about that topic last month, saying: "i think these events actually help to focus people on what's good, rather than some of the things that are negative.

"Let's not forget that in July the vast, vast majority of parades pass off perfectly peacefully. It's only one or two that we still have problems with, so we have got to get things in perspective."

* WORTHY HOST: Royal Portrush