Royal Portrush Golf Club has hosted The Open Championship three times — a rare honour for a course outside Great Britain, and unique in Ireland.
1951: the first Open outside Great Britain
Royal Portrush’s first Open, in 1951, was the only time the Championship was played outside England or Scotland for nearly seven decades afterward.
2019: The Open returns
After a 68-year gap, The Open came back to Royal Portrush in 2019. Irishman Shane Lowry won, setting a course record on the Dunluce Links along the way, in front of a crowd of over 237,500 — a genuinely huge occasion for the town and the sport in Ireland.
2025: Scottie Scheffler’s win
Royal Portrush hosted for a third time in July 2025, its 153rd Open. Two new holes were added to the Dunluce Links ahead of the tournament. Scottie Scheffler closed with a 68 on the final round to finish at 17 under par, four shots clear of runner-up Harris English (13 under), with Chris Gotterup third — his fourth major title, and his first Open win.
The course
The Dunluce Links is consistently ranked among the world’s top courses. Its best-known holes include Calamity Corner (the par-3 16th, one of golf’s most notorious short holes) and the par-5 Giant’s Grave. It’s a genuinely tough, exposed links course — worth seeing even if you’re not playing it, for the setting alone above the Atlantic.
Whether Royal Portrush hosts again is down to the R&A, not published anywhere yet — but given the reception in both 2019 and 2025, it’s a reasonable bet it won’t be another 68 years next time.
