R&A confident of handling ‘McIlroy mania’ when Open returns to Portrush in July

The organisers of the Open Championship have expressed confidence they can manage ‘McIlroy mania’ on the tournament’s return to Northern Ireland in July.

The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush is set to become the second-best attended in history, with almost 280,000 fans having snapped up tickets for the final major of the year.

The event was already a complete sell-out before home favourite Rory McIlroy completed the career grand slam with his dramatic Masters victory at Augusta National.

Almost 1.1 million people applied in the public ticket ballot last year, with 278,000 securing tickets across the practice days and four tournament days.

That is around 41,000 more than attended the Open when Shane Lowry triumphed at Royal Portrush in 2019. That year marked the first time the Open had been played in Northern Ireland since 1951.

While the tickets for this year’s tournament were allocated long before the nerve-shredding conclusion at Augusta, recently appointed R&A chief executive Mark Darbon acknowledged the prospect of McIlroy teeing off on home turf as a Masters champion had added to the excitement around the Open’s third hosting in Northern Ireland.

“I think it’s brilliant for the sport of golf, not just our own championship,” Darbon said. “It was an amazing, emotional win.

“We’re delighted to see Rory etch his name in the history books.”

The record attendance at an Open came in 2022 at St Andrews when 290,000 attended the 150th staging of the tournament.

Asked if the hype around McIlroy would present crowd management issues at Portrush, Darbon said he was confident the understandable spectator desire to catch a glimpse of the five-time major winner could be managed.

“I think you’re always thinking through how do you