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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Sport
Gareth Fullerton

Open Championship return to Royal Portrush fills David Feherty with pride

David Feherty has spoken of his immense pride at seeing The Open Championship return to Royal Portrush.

The major tournament is being played in Northern Ireland for the first time since 1951 and will finally get underway on Thursday morning when home favourite Darren Clarke hits the first tee shot at 6.35am.

It has taken 68 years for The Open to return to these shores, leading to a swell of excitement and anticipation that will see over 200,000 fans descend on the famous Dunluce Links course.

Former pro and current Golf Channel host and NBC analyst Feherty was born and raised in Bangor, Co Down.

The popular 60-year-old moved to the Dallas area in the late 1990s before becoming a US citizen in 2010.

But speaking from Royal Portrush this week, he proudly declared himself to be an Ulsterman during his time in Northern Ireland.

Speaking in an interview with the Golf Channel, Feherty said: "It's hard to even describe what this means to the country. These are special people, and I'm immensely proud to be one of them.

"I've been an American for quite some time, but when I come back here, I'm an Ulsterman."

He added: "I got here yesterday from the Scottish Open and I couldn't sleep last night. At 4.20am this morning it started to get light,  I headed down to the fifth green and watched the shadows recede from the bunkers and the swales and the hollows, and the light came on the golf course and it finally hit me - it's here."

Watch the full segment here:

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