‘We'll definitely be back': Golf fans vow return to Northern Ireland as Scheffler claims Claret Jug at The Open

Belfast Telegraph

4 days ago

The total attendance for the championship week was projected at 278,000, according to the competition's organisers R&A.
Tourism NI indicated that just under half of ticket holders (roughly 140,000 people) were residents of Northern Ireland.
Players from 31 different countries competed at Royal Portrush, and among the remaining international visitors, approximately 20% came from the United States, while others hailed from the UK, Republic of Ireland, continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia.
Thanakron Tandavas, from Bangkok, is an avid golfer himself. He actually won first place in a competition in Thailand, after playing a golf course simulator that exactly matched Royal Portrush, with the prize being a free ticket to attend The 153rd Open.
He said he 'definitely' hopes to come back to Northern Ireland and play on the real Royal Portrush course in a couple of years.
'We don't have links courses in Thailand, and the weather here is much nicer and more brutal as well,' he said.
'It's really windy. There's a lot of slope and the grass is much harder than what we have. We actually played in London once at the London Golf Club. That itself is already hard. This is much, much, much harder for sure. It's going to be challenging for sure. This is our first time in the UK and first time in Northern Ireland.
'We spent our last night in Newry and it was amazing.'
Rick and DeLynn Villareal, from Dallas, also praised the quality and ferocity of this island's golf courses — but another highlight for them was the local cuisine, particularly fish and chips.
'It's a beautiful country. We've been able to experience a lot of it, and we have played golf three times since we've been here,' Rick explained.
'The courses are incredible… It's completely different from any place you will play.
'American courses are a lot more manicured. You don't hardly see a tree on the courses here, right? We see tons of trees on the American courses, but the rough is really tough [here].
'I mean, when you get off the fairway, it's an experience like you've never had before.
'You hit a ball in American courses, you'll hit a tree, it'll fall down, you can find it most of the time.
'If you hit your ball right or left of the fairway into the gorse [here], you'll have a hard time finding it.
'I think it's very affordable, as far as the other countries we go to. We were in Italy for 17 days last year and it was kind of expensive. But here, not only did you feel like you got your money's worth for what you did, but the food was outstanding. And the people — the people have been just unbelievable.'
Norwegian fan Linn Anitam agreed, and especially praised Char+Mash, the Odyssey's newest restaurant in Belfast, for its beef.
She and her party have been staying at The Flint hotel, which has cost around £800 for four nights.
'It's my first time in Northern Ireland. We would absolutely love to come back,' she said.
'We love the atmosphere and the people and everything. It's a really nice place.
'We went to Royal Liverpool a couple of years ago, but [Royal Portrush] is so compact. I think the distance isn't so big, so it's easy to go around and watch the players.'
Craig Hodgson and Kent MacInnis, who are from Winnipeg in Canada, are friends with former Belfast Giants captain Shane Johnson, who continued to live in Northern Ireland with his family after he retired from professional ice hockey.
Craig and Kent have been staying with Shane this week, just outside of Belfast, and they hope to make future golf trips here a tradition for their 'guys' trips'.
Kent said: 'We did Dublin and the Guinness factory.
'In Northern Ireland we went to Donaghadee and did a nice little historical tour of downtown Belfast, about the history of the Troubles.
'And then, of course, on a guys' trip, we did a nice night out and hit the hotspots of the [Cathedral Quarter], which, in my opinion, is the best place I've ever partied in my life.
'It's unbelievable. For anyone who has never done it before, it is the best. I haven't partied that hard in a town in my life before.'
He added that Portrush is 'a beautiful seaside town, truly breathtaking, especially when we're getting fine weather'.
'This golf course is truly one of a kind. It's the scenic views absolutely everywhere, the difficulty of the course, mixed with the Northern Irish people, who are just so friendly. It's been such a great time,' Kent, who has been to NI just once before, continued.
For Craig, this is his first trip to the region.
He said that, '100%, we'll definitely be back in five or six years when Portrush hosts The Open again'.
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Chief executive Mark Darbon affirmed on Wednesday that R&A 'love' Royal Portrush.
'And one of the reasons we love this venue is that we've got sites to construct the infrastructure that we require, but we've also got so many natural vantage points to showcase the wonderful Dunluce links and its Causeway coastline,' he said.
'We look forward to coming here for many years to come.'