EXPECTATION will become reality today when the opening tee shot of The Open Championship is hit at Royal Portrush.
The spectacular north-east coastline will be beamed across the world when the 148th staging of golf's oldest major begins this morning.
Sixty-eight years after Max Faulkner won the only Open to be staged outside Scotland or England, the prestigious Portrush golf course will welcome the best golfers from across the globe as they compete for the coveted Claret Jug.
Crowds have swelled over the last four days as thousands of people made their way to the north coast venue to watch some of the biggest names from the world of golf play practice rounds.
But today is when the competitive action starts with former Open champion and Dungannon-born golfer Darren Clarke hits the opening tee shot at 6.35am.
From today, 156 players will compete and after two rounds, 36 holes, the field will be cut to 70 and those golfers left will compete on Saturday and Sunday for the famous trophy and a cheque for £1.56m.
The start of the competition also marks the culmination of four years of work since the R&A, golf's ruling authority, made the official announcement that The Open would be held at Royal Portrush.
Among the major changes undertaken since then have been the creation of two new holes - the seventh and eighth - which were built on the adjacent Valley Links, while the existing 17th and 18th holes are being used for the vast spectator village and media centre.
With an estimated £80m boost to the local economy, a sell-out capacity crowd has also ensured the championship will be the second-highest attended Open in history.
By the end of the week more than 230,000 fans will have come through the gates as the Co Antrim golf club hosts the event for the first time since 1951.
"It is a huge week for golf, an historic week for golf," said R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers yesterday.
"Not only is it a sell-out but I can confirm this week will see the biggest attendance outside of St Andrews with 237,750 spectators, which surpassed the 235,000 we saw at Birkdale in 2017.
"This becomes the second-highest attended Open championship of all time."
It comes as the bookies' favourite Rory McIlroy yesterday hailed the return of golf's Open Championship as proof that the north has moved on from its Troubles past.
As expectations continue to rise for McIlroy to clinch the win, the Holywood golfer said: "I think no matter what happens this week, if I win or whoever else wins, having the Open back in this country is a massive thing for golf.
"And I think as well it will be a massive thing for the country."
McIlroy also said "sport has an unbelievable ability to bring people together".
"We all know that this country sometimes needs that," he said.
"Talking of legacy, that could be the biggest impact this tournament has outside of sport, outside of everything else... the fact that people are coming here to enjoy it and have a good time and sort of forget everything else that sort of goes on."
He added: "It's amazing to think 40 years on it's such a great place, no one cares who they are, where they're from, what background they're from, but you can have a great life and it doesn't matter what side of the street you come from".
