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Golf Monthly

Sport

Mike Hall

Past Winners At Royal Portrush

Royal Portrush Rory McIlroy Shane Lowry Jamie Donaldson Open Irish Open Brian Barnes Harry Colt The Open The RA

Shane Lowry celebrates winning The Open .

Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush, which was designed by Harry Colt, opened in 1888, and since then it has hosted plenty of high-profile events.

Among them are three editions of The Amateur Championship, the Senior Open Championship on six occasions and the Irish PGA Championship five times between 1907 and 1949.

It has also hosted the men’s Irish Open four times, and, most notably, The Open twice, in 1951 and 2019 – a tournament that will return there for the 2025 edition.

Arguably, of all the notable events the venue has hosted through the years, the most high-profile have been the two times The Open has come to its Dunluce Links course (Royal Portrush is also the home of another Colt-designed course, Valley Links) and the 2012 Irish Open. Here are the details on who won those tournaments.

Max Faulkner - The Open (1951)

Max Faulkner had a two-shot win at the 1951 Open at Royal Portrush (Image credit: Getty Images)

The 1951 Open marked the first time the tournament had been held outside Scotland and England. The decision to bring the tournament to Royal Portrush surprised many, but it had been a result of several elements, including a desire from The R&A to promote the game in Ireland and a couple of prominent members of The R&A being affiliated with the venue.

When the 80th Open took place there, it was won by Max Faulkner. He was three back of the lead after a first-round 71, but a 70 in the second round propelled him to the top of the leaderboard, one ahead of Norman Sutton.

The lead had become a commanding six following another 70 in the third round. He wrapped up his one Major title with a 74 in the final round, beating Argentinian Antonio Cerda by two and winning £300 for his troubles.

Jamie Donaldson - Irish Open (2012)

Jamie Donaldson claimed victory in the 2012 Irish Open at the venue (Image credit: Getty Images)

The venue hosted several more high-profile tournaments in the decades that followed, including the 1960 and 1993 Amateur Championships, but the onset of conflict with The Troubles in Northern Ireland meant opportunities became more limited.

However, once peace had been restored, one of the big tournaments that came to the course was the Irish Open, in 2012, having previously been held there in 1930, 1937 and 1947. Seven years earlier, a 16-year-old Rory McIlroy had set the Royal Portrush course record there, a 61, in the North of Ireland Amateur.

Even though he played, it wasn’t McIlroy who claimed the Irish Open title, though, but Welshman Jamie Donaldson, who beat Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Anthony Wall and Fabrizio Zanotti by four to claim his maiden European Tour title.

Shane Lowry - The Open (2019)

Shane Lowry won The Open in 2019 (Image credit: Getty Images)

In 2014, it was confirmed that Royal Portrush was coming back into Open rotation, and the following year, it was announced it would host the 2019 edition.

That decision was helped by the recent success of three Northern Irishmen, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke. At the time of the announcement, McIlroy said: “Royal Portrush is one of my favorite golf courses in the world. I think it will be a fantastic Open venue.”

Several changes to the course were made ahead of the event, including replacing the 17th and 18th holes of the original course with what became the 7th and 8^th.

Even with McIlroy’s love for the course, he struggled, carding a 79 in the first round and still missing the cut despite a much-improved 65 the next day. However, there were no such concerns for Irishman Shane Lowry, who got to grips with the course better than anyone, winning by four, including a course record of 63 for the new layout to claim his maiden Major title.