The prospect of Portmarnock Golf Club staging both The Open Championship and the AIG Women’s Open has moved from aspiration towards active planning, with The R&A confirming that the major feasibility work is effectively complete.

Speaking ahead of the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale last week, R&A Chief Executive Mark Darbon delivered the governing body’s most positive assessment yet of the north Dublin links.

“I think we’re getting pretty close,” he said, confirming that an extensive feasibility study involving the club, Fingal County Council and the Irish Government was “pretty much done”.

Crucially, Darbon said the work had confirmed The R&A’s belief that Portmarnock could accommodate a modern Open Championship, an event whose scale extends far beyond the golf course itself.

The remaining discussions are now focused less on whether the championship can be staged at Portmarnock and more on the financial, infrastructural and scheduling model required to make it work.

Darbon also made clear that The R&A is not considering Portmarnock as the venue for a single, isolated championship.

Opportunities

The objective is to create opportunities for both The Open and the AIG Women’s Open for “many, many years to come”, with Darbon saying discussions with the Irish Government were moving in a positive direction. A clearer position is expected before the end of 2026.

That represents an important change in the status of the project.

Portmarnock was identified publicly as a possible Open venue in 2023. The Government agreed in July 2024 to explore a bid and gave provisional support three months later, subject to a full business case, agreement on costs, a meaningful participation legacy and guarantees that Ireland would receive multiple championship hostings.

Government analysis estimated that Portmarnock could sell up to 245,000 tickets for each staging of The Open. Three Open Championships and at least one AIG Women’s Open were projected to generate a cumulative gross economic impact of €338 million.

Those conditions align closely with Darbon’s latest comments.

The R&A wants a repeatable model rather than a one-off visit. The Government, in return, wants the scale of its investment to be justified by multiple events and by benefits extending into tourism, participation and the development of golf.

That is why the AIG Women’s Open should not be viewed as an optional addition to the Portmarnock proposal.

The championship has grown considerably in profile, prize money and attendance. The 2026 edition at Royal Lytham and St Annes will offer a record prize fund of $10 million, while The R&A is seeking to increase both its live attendance and international broadcast audience.

Darbon said earlier this year that there was a “great opportunity” to stage the women’s major at Portmarnock as part of the discussions involving the club and Government.

Operational

Portmarnock’s successful staging of the Women’s Amateur Championship in 2024 provided an important operational and symbolic step.

It followed the club’s 2021 vote to end its men-only membership policy, with the first women members subsequently elected. That change removed a fundamental barrier to consideration for R&A championships and opened a new chapter for a club established in 1894.

Members have also approved course alterations required for major championship golf.

The proposals include converting the existing second hole from a par four to a par three, constructing a new green and extending the fifth, and changing the tournament routing so that the present 18th becomes the opening hole and the 17th provides the championship finish.

That revised finish would create greater space for grandstands, hospitality and spectator movement around the closing hole.

The golf course itself has never been the principal concern.

Portmarnock has staged 19 Irish Opens as well as the Walker Cup, the Canada Cup and leading amateur championships. Its location close to Dublin and Dublin Airport, allied to its international reputation as a traditional championship links, made it The R&A’s preferred candidate in the Republic of Ireland.

The complications arise from everything required around the course.

A contemporary Open needs transport systems capable of moving hundreds of thousands of spectators, extensive temporary hospitality and media facilities, secure player and operational areas, sufficient accommodation and a spectator village capable of functioning almost as a temporary town.

Portmarnock’s coastal setting and the restricted nature of the final approach to the club have required detailed work involving transport, policing, local authorities and neighbouring landowners.

Feasibility

Darbon’s confirmation that the feasibility exercise has demonstrated that an Open can be delivered is therefore more significant than another expression of general enthusiasm.

There is now also a natural window emerging in The R&A’s calendar.

St Andrews will host The Open in 2027 and Royal Lytham and St Annes in 2028, with venues beyond then yet to be formally announced. The AIG Women’s Open is committed to Royal Lytham in 2026, Royal St George’s in 2027 and Sunningdale in 2028.

That makes 2029 the earliest currently open year for either championship, though no date has been confirmed and The R&A may choose to stage the women’s event first as a test of the Portmarnock operating model.

The economic case has already been strengthened by the experience of Royal Portrush.

The 2019 Open generated more than £100 million in economic benefit for Northern Ireland. Its success, followed by the championship’s return in 2025, demonstrated that Ireland can deliver the infrastructure, atmosphere and international visitor experience demanded by golf’s oldest major.

Portmarnock would go one step further by taking The Open outside the United Kingdom for the first time.

That would carry sporting significance, but also considerable value for Ireland’s international tourism positioning. The country would be able to market the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor, future Open Championships at Portmarnock and one of the world’s most important women’s sporting events as part of a sustained major-event golf strategy.

There are still negotiations to complete and public investment to approve.

But Darbon’s comments at Royal Birkdale suggest that the possibility is very real and has never been closer to becoming reality.

 

 

 

 

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Image Credit: Portmarnock Golf Club

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