ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND | Those who went to Bethpage Black were savouring the silence of St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns in last week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. At all three of those venues, the fans were mostly of the “only-interested-in-golf” variety, with high winds and driving rain the only menaces in action.
Inevitably, the week at Long Island was one to leave people wondering about other major events, with particular reference to the Open Championship. Were the R&A going to continue with their “bigger and better” slogan, or were they beginning to think twice?
They would have had no worries at this summer’s venue. Royal Portrush had any amount of room for spectators young, old, and in-between. What’s more, the usual drinking corps were of the humorous Irish variety as opposed to the more boorish mish-mash at Bethpage Black. The club was not the handiest – other, perhaps, than for those who flew into Derry Airport in their private jets – but once inside the compound, everything from the media centre, to the practice ground, to the course itself, were perfectly positioned. Well done all round.
It’s the other Open venues which are more concerned about their futures in an era when bigger and noisier crowds – the ones at the WM Phoenix Open and LIV Golf events are a prime example – are supposedly what the younger generation want. (Members of St Andrews University’s golf club didn’t seem to agree. They tend to think that the game should stay as quiet and courteous as it was their parents’ day.)
Muirfield is an interesting case. In 2013, when they hosted the most recent of their Opens, there were 140,000 spectators. For their next Open, which could just happen in 2028, the R&A want a further 100,000 for their “bigger and better” ambitions.
In June 2024, Stuart McEwen, the club secretary, said that the R&A’s space analyst had worked out that there would be room for them. McEwen, on the other hand, was not so sure. Though he liked to think that the analysts would know enough about golf to understand what would make for easy viewing, he said, “One hundred thousand more sounds like a lot to me. … Our members like to get close to the action and will that still be possible? For another thing, we don’t want to lose sight of what golf is all about.”
This year, there is a strong body of Muirfield members prepared to go along with most of the R&A’s ambitions – and a substantial minority who are decidedly wary.
Those members who were around for the ’13 Open and its earlier versions will remember how friendly an affair the championship used to be, with such as Jack Nicklaus, Ernie Els and others leaving messages for them in the lockers they had borrowed for the week.
In what came as a shock, the club announced in mid-summer that they no longer wanted their well-established communications group to continue with their meetings. Presumably, it was because their wishes did not correspond with those of newer committee men and women who felt they were close to coming to an arrangement with the R&A.
GGP’s requested update on the situation from McEwen went as follows: “We cannot share any views regarding this. However, repeating what Mark Darbon (the R&A chief executive) said recently, there is positive dialogue between HCEG (Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers) and the R&A. We believe Muirfield is a fantastic golf course, a true test of championship golf which the professionals enjoy playing. We certainly hope the Open returns. …”
“We don’t,” said a member, “particularly want an Open if the R&A insist on adding an extra 100,000 [spectators]. Even those who are on the R&A’s side in this debate aren’t going to be thrilled if that happens. Furthermore, if the whispers we are hearing about the R&A having it in mind to reshape the course are correct, I think we’ll be as one in not wanting the championship at all.”
That may be just a threat, because the club loved the Open when they had it. Those members who were around for the ’13 Open and its earlier versions will remember how friendly an affair the championship used to be, with such as Jack Nicklaus, Ernie Els and others leaving messages for them in the lockers they had borrowed for the week. In the last few years, on the other hand, golfers have wanted their own tented area, a place where they can eat, rest and work out with their teams. They no longer want to hang around chatting to members who, though they will have had to put up with weeks of disruption ahead of the championship, want nothing so much as to be able to tell their friends that they were talking to Bryson DeChambeau or whoever.
Apparently, there will be no announcement as to who will follow Royal Birkdale and St Andrews in hosting the ’28 edition until the end of the year. Each of the three “possible venues” has problems attached. For Muirfield, Darbon seems most concerned about the practice range where John Daly used to whack balls over the back netting. For Turnberry, it’s all about logistics – road, rail and accommodation – and for Portmarnock, it’s about the links being outside the U.K.
“We’re thinking about Portmarnock and we’ve been really encouraged by the support, in principle, that we have had from the Irish government,” Darbon said. “They are helping us understand if we can stage an Open there. …”
What a set of challenges for Darbon to have to negotiate in his second year on the job. How much easier things would have been for those who were around in the 1800s. None of the first 12 championships ever budged from Prestwick.
E-MAIL LEWINE
Top: The 2013 Open at Muirfield
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