Royal Portrush Golf Club will host the 2019 Open Championship, with the event "returning to the Northern Ireland venue for the first time in 68 years," according to the BBC. The organizer, Royal & Ancient, said last year that Royal Portrush "would host the event, and on Tuesday it confirmed" July 18-21, 2019 as the dates. A successful staging of the Open at Royal Portrush in '19 is "likely to mean the major returning to the venue." The Open will be the "biggest sporting event ever held in Northern Ireland." Portrush's "hosting of the event in 1951 is the only previous occasion the golf major was staged outside England or Scotland." R&A CEO Martin Slumbers said that he was "delighted" to announce the event's return to Northern Ireland "for what will be the 148th staging of the championship." Royal Portrush's Championship Organizing Committee Chair John Bamber said that Tuesday's announcement represented "one of the greatest days" in the course's history. Bamber: "Most of the independent financial surveys that are completed on the Open Championship would suggest that it brings something between £55M ($85M) to £70M ($108M) in the year of the Open to the wider community in the venue's area." The hosting of the event in '19 was "dependent on course and infrastructure changes to the venue being approved by club members and completed in good time for the championship" (BBC, 10/20).
