The Critics Have Spoken: Royal Portrush Deserves An Open Championship ASAP

James Donaldson broke through to win his first European Tour event but was overshadowed by the stunning success of Royal Portrush and the supportive galleries.

James Corrigan in the Telegraph:

The Royal & Ancient observers can’t have failed to have been impressed by the numbers, commitment and course. Let us pray this wonderful venue soon appears on the Open roster. It deserves it; Portrush deserves it.

BBC's Mark Simpson was a bit more skeptical, though he noted the biggest questions had been answered:

But transport links coped remarkably well with the golf fan invasion, despite frequent cloud bursts.

So has Royal Portrush done enough to clinch the British Open? Too early to say.

More questions need to be answered about the course's ability to cope with the biggest tournament in European golf.

Alistair Tait was more definitive in his assessment:

This felt like an Open Championship. The event ran without a hitch, and was a fantastic test run for a future Open.

The first available slot for the game’s oldest tournament is 2017. The R&A should seriously consider Royal Portrush again. The course deserves it, the fans will support it and it would be a fantastic Open venue.

Brandon Tucker also declared it a victory for those hoping to see the Open Championship return to Northern Ireland for the first time since 1951, but he leaves the last word to winner Donaldson.

"I don't think we've ever played a better golf course on the European Tour," said Donaldson. "It's that good. The course is incredible. The crowds are unbelievable."

The European Tour website has a nice Getty image gallery from the week, including a few nice scene shots capturing the huge crowds like the one embedded above.

Update on 2012-07-02 04:19 by Geoff

**Dermot Gilleese with all sorts of interesting behind the scenes info on what plays into Portrush hosting an event and getting an Open.

While the tournament was still taking competitive shape, that objective had already been richly realised. It was achieved through the extraordinary enthusiasm of spectators who clearly adopted Kenny McDowell's philosophical attitude towards often cruel conditions. Having come to honour their golfing heroes in an event they had waited years to stage, they weren't about to let wind and rain deflect them from relishing every moment.

And their enthusiasm spilled over the fairway ropes. "I've been very pleasantly surprised at the warmth of the crowd, given that I'm in Graeme's back yard," said Pádraig Harrington. "By turning out in such numbers, they have ensured that the Irish Open will be classified in future by the players and public as very definitely an 'A' event."

All of which came at a considerable cost to the host club. "We've been closed totally for three weeks," said secretary/manager Wilma Erskine. "And we didn't take any new visitor bookings since last January. Then there are lost sales in the pro shop and a drop in the bar and catering, all of which would come to around £200,000.

"But I believe it's money well spent. In fact, it's fantastic value when you consider the television exposure, especially in America, which is why we wanted the tournament in the first place. In the meantime, the guaranteed success of the event through advance ticket sales has already brought increased business for the next six months, which are fully booked.

"And we should continue to benefit from the Irish Open factor over the next few years when we would expect our world ranking to go up as a much sought-after venue."

Against the background of Irish Open costs, one imagined possible concern at the sort of outlay involved in bringing the Open Championship back to Portrush. "In that event, the Royal and Ancient would carry the financial can for everything," she replied.

Update on 2012-07-02 15:10 by Geoff

**In Golf World Monday, John Huggan suspects the low scoring may give the R&A reason to pause.

Must See Video: Tiger Takes On A Tree And Wins

This was simply incredible from the 12th hole of the AT&T National final round.

Vintage Tiger.

AT&T National To Be Played Without Fans, Volunteers; More Violent Storms Possible

Rex Hoggard with the update, including split tees at 1 p.m. ET and the decision to keep fans and volunteers away.

According to the Tour’s meteorologist the storm, which began on Friday near Chicago, produced “derecho” winds that gusted to 70 mph around Congressional and had the potential to do tornado-like damage.

The storm arrived at about 10:30 p.m. and lasted just 45 minutes and produced 3/10ths of an inch of rain but the damage to Congressional and the surrounding area was substantial with more than 40 fallen trees at the course. Much of the area, including Congressional’s clubhouse, remained without power.

Russell said the Tour plans to evaluate whether it would be safe to allow fans to attend Sunday’s final round and he still had not determined if any “local rules” would be used on Saturday.

Ryan Ballengee posted some photos of the tree damage on his Facebook page.

Many of the same areas affected on Friday may have to endure yet another round of gusty thunderstorms later today, perhaps even another "derecho" event, according to this Accuweather forecaster.

Congressional Assaulted By Violent Storm

From the sounds of tournament director Greg McLaughlin's Tweet along with chatter from many others staying near the course and reporting power outages, AT&T National host site Congressional has been hit by a storm of Biblical proportions.

McLaughlin wrote:

Wind blew down countless trees at Congo. Came back at 10p and 3 trees uprooted block main drive. Had to climb over to get to club.

Reuters is reporting a gust at 79 mph.

The Washington Post reports power outages for a million customers, which will not help in coping with Saturday's forecasted heat where some forecasters are suggesting a heat index of up to 110.

So Far, So Good With The Portrush Audition

Alistair Tait, reporting from the Irish Open at Royal Portrush where the Open Championship has not been played since 1951, says the players are giving the course rave reviews despite facing an unusually soft links due to heavy rains.

“It would be great for an Open Championship,” two time Open champion Padraig Harrington said. “It’s awesome. It is a joy to play this golf course. It’s got a lot of testing golf shots on it but it also gives you something when you hit a good shot.”

Anyone who questioned whether or not the Northern Irish would support big time golf only had to turn up at Portrush to find the answer. It is a resounding yes. But that’s always been the case. They turned up in thousands when the 2007 Walker Cup was played at Royal County Down. And that was before the economic downturn.

“For the crowds to turn out in the middle of a recession, pay big money like they are paying makes me proud to be Irish,” Paul McGinley said. “We go to a lot of countries around the world, a lot wealthier than Ireland and not going through the economic downturn that we are in, and yet we have record sell outs here.”

Tait also says the R&A has been present, scouting out the logistics. Let's hope the low scoring is not a deterrent.

"The PGA Tour’s expanding schedule might shrink one invaluable opportunity for its members."

Scott Michaux makes a strong case for the PGA Tour's new calendar year schedule putting the folks at Augusta National in an awkward position, reminding us how much Chairman Billy Payne appreciates the win-and-you're-in status of PGA Tour events. They have time to decide whether to invite all PGA Tour event winners into the Masters, but it's hard to see the Masters going to split tees to accommodate the new-look schedule.

16-Year-Old Posts Two Course Record 61's In A Week

Thanks to reader David for Bill Nichols' Dallas Morning News item on Scottie Scheffler posted course records at Northwood Club and Dallas Country Club.

Playing with friends on his birthday last Thursday, Scheffler shot 10-under 61 at Northwood, breaking the course record held by Hunter Mahan. This came exactly one week after Northwood celebrated the 60th anniversary of hosting the 1952 U.S. Open.

At least Scheffler paid homage, sort of, to Open champ Julius Boros by taking only eight putts on the back nine. In 1952 Boros had 11 putts on the back nine in the morning round then one-putted seven of the final nine greens in the afternoon.

Nichols goes on to detail the course record-tying round at Northwood and talks to instructor Randy Smith about his student.