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Royal Portrush: Antrim course was added to the rota of Open hosts in June 2014. Darren Kidd

The Open will be played in Northern Ireland in 2019

Royal Portrush has been named as host for the 148th Open Championship.

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP, the oldest of golf’s four Majors, will be played in Royal Portrush in 2019.

The historic decision marks only the second time that the tournament has been played outside of England and Scotland, and its return to Northern Ireland 68 years after the same course played host in 1951.

World number three Rory McIlroy was among the first to welcome the official announcement, describing the Antrim venue as “one of my favourite golf courses in the world.”

“I think it will be a fantastic Open venue,” McIlroy said. “They are going to add a couple of new holes to the golf course and I think that will be a great addition and will make the course even stronger.

I’m really looking forward to it.

The tournament, which takes place from 18-21 July, will be worth more than £70 million in terms of economic impact and destination marketing benefit according to official estimates.

“This is going to be absolutely huge for Northern Ireland and, indeed, Ireland as a whole,” Darren Clarke said.

“To have the world’s biggest and best golf championship played at such a fantastic venue as Royal Portrush, with all the passion that the Irish fans will bring to the event, is going to be amazing.”

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