The R&A are reportedly announcing a return of The Open Championship to Royal Portrush at a press conference set to take place at the links next Monday.
The course last held the championships in 1951 when English golfer Max Faulkner won £300 for a two-shot victory over Argentina’s Antonio Cerda. The R&A have scheduled British Opens up to 2016 at Royal Troon, with Royal Porteush expected to get the event in 2019.
A successful staging of the Irish Open in 2012 created record European Tour crowds, with all four days sold out at the venue.
Initially a lack of space to house the vast hospitality areas and ancillary services required for a Major Championship were thought to count against a return on the British Open to the course, but a plan to use holes on both the Dunluce and Valley courses at the 36-hole layout are believed to have made the plan viable.
The success of Irish golfers in Major Championships in recent years has also helped the bid, with Graeme McDowell, a member of the Rathmore club in Portrush, particularly vocal in praising the attributes of a course consistently rated amongst the best in the world.
Darren Clarke celebrated his British Open success in the town, while a 16-year-old Rory McIlroy shot to fame with a course record 61 on the Dunluce links during the 2005 North of Ireland Amateur Championships.
Nine-times major winner Gary Player, who won the British Senior Open at Portrush in 1997, also added his support to the campaign.
"It's one of the greatest golf links in the world and it would be most deserving to have the greatest tournament in the world played at Portrush,"
