Graeme McDowell urges R&A to consider Royal Portrush for the British Open
Graeme McDowell, the winner of 2010 US Open, has requested the Royal and Ancient, the organizers of the British Open, to return to Royal Portrush, given the great success of the Irish Open this year.
A total of 130,785 appeared on the course to watch their favourite players display their skills.
According to McDowell, R&A should seriously consider adding Royal Portrush to its major championship roster.
He also accepted that the British Open is a much bigger event compared to the Irish Open. However, the organizers successfully arranged and controlled the huge crowd present at the venue this year.
Therefore, a little help from R&A can make it really easy for another 10 to 15 thousand spectators to come and watch their favourite game live on the north coast of Northern Ireland.
“All I can say to Peter Dawson is that we have run a successful event here, we’ve had British Open-style crowds with some 30,000 people coming through these gates every day,” said McDowell after posting a final round 66, to share the 16th place with a score
of 10-under par.
“There’s been an overwhelming vote of success from all the players with regards to the golf course and they love it,” he added.
“And while in my heart I would love to see the British Open come back to Royal Portrush. ...all we can do is put our chips in the middle of the table”.
In addition to that, he accepted that R&A must have some solid reason for not returning to the area since it came out of England and Scotland for the only time in 1951, when it was staged at the County Antrim links gem.
However, the organizers must have a keen look at the success of the event in Northern Ireland, which is basically a strong case to attract the governing body to consider adding Royal Portrush to the roster.
Irish Open has now become one of the most watched tournaments on the European Tour, thanks to the dedication shown by some of the big names in the world such as world number two Rory McIlroy, three-time major winner Padraig Harrington and McDowell.
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