In 2019, it was the first-ever sold-out Open. It was a hugely significant moment for Northern Ireland after a troubled past.

The eyes of the golfing world will be on Northern Ireland this weekend as Royal Portrush Golf Club, County Antrim, hosts the 153rd Open Championship. The Dunluce Course, an ancient links situated

The 153rd Open Championship is set to begin at Royal Portrush. Two lakh seventy eight thousand fans will attend the event. Top golfers like Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Jon Rahm will compete for the Claret Jug.

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, but it's not on the island of Great Britain. So why is it hosting the “British” Open this week?

Erskine, the club’s then-secretary of 35 years—who many credit with bringing the Open to Portrush—was waiting for a defining moment. Some visual cue from the universe to signify the accomplishment that Portrush, after decades of political turmoil on the island of Ireland before a peace in 1998, had enticed the R&A back to this part of the world.

Dealing with that adulation’s attendant pressure is what McIlroy failed to do in missing the cut in 2019, infamously hooking his tee shot left and out of bounds; his radar left askew by the emotional punch of the ovation that met him on the first tee.

While Turnberry, Royal Lytham and Muirfield are all waiting to welcome back the world’s oldest major championship after last hosting it in 2009, 2012 and 2013 respectively, Royal Portrush has gone from being in the wilderness,