The Irish Open has always been one of the premier tour events on the European Tour. Winners of the event include Seve Ballesteros, Bernard Langer, Ben Crenshaw, Sergio Garcia, Nick Faldo and last year’s winner, Rory McIlroy. McIlroy will be defending his title in July this year on the links of Portstewart’s Strand Course, located on the North Coast of Northern Ireland, and it will be the first time that this stunning course has hosted a European Tour event.

Portstewart is where I play my golf on a weekly basis and less than a 10-minute walk from my house. So to say that I am super excited at the prospect of watching some of the best golfers in the world playing in my backyard in a few months time is a bit of an understatement.

This year’s event is being sponsored by Dubai Duty Free along with the Rory Foundation July 6-9, bumping the tournament closer to The Open than in previous years. It will begin three weeks of top-class links golf in Europe, being followed by the Scottish Open at Dundonald and The Open at Royal Birkdale. In recent years, there’s been a growing trend of overseas players using these tournaments to familiarize themselves with links golf and the trend is expected to continue this year.

I recently caught up with Tournament Director Michael Moss and Head Greenkeeper at Portswewart Bernard Findlay. Moss has been General Manager of Portstewart Golf Club for 40 years, so he was an obvious choice to run this year’s tournament. Findlay has been keeper of the links for 31 years and knows the ground like the back of his hand.

Here’s what they had to say about this year’s Irish Open.

What is the pedigree of the course?

MM: The Club was founded in 1894 and the original holes on The Strand were laid out in 1907. Since then The Strand Course has had several makeovers, one by the famous course architect Willie Park in the 1920’s. In 1986, further land was acquired and one of our own members, Des Giffin, designed the present 18-hole layout, including seven new holes carved through dunes. Over the last few years further enhancements have been made including several new tees and green complexes.

The green complex at the par-5 fourth hole.

It is a true championship links course and over the years has hosted several major amateur tournaments including co-hosting the British Amateur in 2014 and the Ladies British Amateur in 2015.

What changes were needed to the course accommodate this event?

MM: When we were first approached to host the event, we took a lot of advice from both the R&A and the European Tour. We knew we had a great course but we wanted to make some general changes including adding length to accommodate the modern game. We had already put in new tees and we decided to strengthen some of the holes on the back nice by putting in new green complexes of the 10th hole and 13th hole and changing the layout of one of the 14th hole. We have also spent a lot of time removing Sea Buckthorn/gorse that had grown extensively over the course during the last 20 years. Replacing the buckthorn with Marram grass has given the course a more traditional links look and feel to it.

BF: Over the last few months we have carried out extensive work to the 10th and 14th holes, including reshaping the 10th green and redefining the 14th hole making it into a dog-leg by moving the entire teeing complex. We have also put in several new strategically placed bunkers and invested a lot of time rebuilding the bunkers throughout the course. Over the past few years we have put in seven new championship tees, all to R&A specified guidelines.

Work on the new 14th tee.

We have also had to put in a new practice facility including a driving range, short game area and a putting green. Luckily we have been able to use part of the Riverside course (the second of Portstewart’s three courses) for this, which is on the same land. And we have also been working on putting in spectator pathways to accommodate the anticipated volume of spectators.

How will the golf course be set up for the week?

MM: We have already taken advice from the European Tour and been briefed about the set-up requirements such as length of rough, semi-rough and fairways as well as green speeds. From the tips the course will measure 7,150 yards and will play as a par-72. But obviously it will depend on weather conditions each day of that week. So we have plenty of options to play around with. We want to set up the course to deliver a good test to the players. A good brisk links breeze (10-20 mph) will tighten things up and the rough will be somewhat dependent on Mother Nature, but we expect it will be gnarly in places.

Bernard Findlay (right) working on the new 10th green complex.

There are a lot of elevated tees and greens and some big putting surfaces on the Strand Course. We will of course provide advice on pin positions, but that will be up to the European tour to decide on precise pin placements for each day. There could be some very awkward pins, indeed!

The greens have been in super condition over the past few years and should be running smoothly at tournament speed. Altogether, I’m very confident that we will have something that will truly test the players but will be at the same time very fair.
When the British Amateur was co-hosted here in 2014, the feedback was excellent. The players absolutely loved the course, so hopefully we will get similar comments and feedback from the professionals and organizers.

BF: The main focus will be on the speed of the greens. We will be rolling and cutting the greens over the preceding weeks to ensure that they meet the speed requirements. We intend to cut to around 4-4.5 millimeters, but if the wind picks up there is a chance that it will cause balls to blow off greens so we will be keep an eye on the weather in advance and cut accordingly each day.

Cutting the 3rd green at Portstewart.

We will also be keeping the various cuts of grass to the stipulated lengths as best as possible and our program of rebuilding the bunkers over the winter months should have them in great shape come July.

How will you cope with all the operational demands?

MM: We have been working on this for some time and there are committees set up to look after every aspect of hosting a tournament of this caliber. From transport, marshaling, player liaison, etc., we have plenty of volunteers already and will look to neighboring clubs for support. The European Tour and the R&A have also given us plenty of advice, and Royal Portrush (only 4 miles away) hosted the Irish Open in 2012 and we have learned a lot of lessons from that experience.

BF: On the course we have a greens staff of about 20 who have been working steadily over the last several months in preparation for the event. We will also call in help closer to the time from neighboring courses and their greens staff. We will set the course up as required and try and carer for every weather eventuality. The first players tee off at 7 a.m. so the course will need to be ready before then, which will mean an early start for the crew.

How will you accommodate traffic?

MM: Northern Ireland has a good roads and rail system. The two main airports are just over an hour away. We plan to use park-and-ride facilities in the neighboring towns and the local university, and we are working with the local council and transport companies to facilitate that. We are also working very closely with the police and roads service to ensure things run as smoothly as possible.

Portstewart was founded in 1894.

How are things looking so far?

MM: Progress has been excellent. We have made a number of successful changes to the course during the autumn and winter months and have been very lucky to date with the weather. We expect the course to be in great shape for July. We are still working on the logistical preparations with input from a number of bodies including the local council, police and ambulance, the Tourist Board, as well as the European Tour, but we are well on track and confident that we will deliver an excellent tournament.

Who has entered to play?

MM: It’s still too early to get final confirmations, but with Rory (McIlroy) hosting the event and with it being so close to The Open we are hopeful that some of the higher-ranked players will submit entries and use the tournament to refine their game for links-style golf. The Irish Open is also now part of the new Rolex Series, one of eight tournaments offering higher prize money and 1.5 times the Ryder Cup points, so it is envisaged that most of the top European professionals will be playing as well as overseas players. The purse for this year’s event is £7 million.

How has it gone down with club members?

MM: The members have been super supportive of the prospect of hosting this prestigious event for the first time. It means some sacrifices, including the closure of the links for a few weeks prior to the event and playing off mats during the winter, but the excitement has overridden any downsides. A lot of the members have already volunteered to help out.

What will this mean for Portstewart?

MM: It’s going to be very exciting both for Portstewart and for the North Coast in general. Going by previous Irish Opens, we can expect in excess of 130,000 visitors over the week. In fact ticket sales have been excellent so far, so it will be a great opportunity to showcase the course and the town to an international audience. We are already a very popular golfing destination so this will help build on that. With that amount of traffic, we think the town will do very well. Restaurants, hotels guest houses will all benefit. All in it will really ramp up the North coast as a world class golfing destination.