Economic Benefit of The Open Championship 2016... Stg £110 Million

Royal Troon

I was sent a press release today by the very nice people at Visit Scotland (see edited highlights below). It’s a fascinating read on two levels: first is the detail and the importance placed by Scotland on the Open Championship; and second, done right, this bodes well for Northern Ireland and Royal Portrush in 2019.

The attention-grabbing headline number is this: there was a Stg £110 million benefit to Scotland from the 145th Open at

An Open Championship Dogfight

I don't write about the professional game very often but this year's Open Championship was truly special. The final pair of Mickelson and Stenson finished, respectively, 11 and 14 shots clear of the chasing pack with rounds of 65 and 63. That's phenomenal and puts them in a class apart... it made Rory's next-best-of-the-day 67 look almost trifling.

Jordan Spieth had this to say:

Talk about a heavyweight bout as they punched and counter-punched, hole after hole. I'm delighted for Stenson... and gutted for Mickelson, even moreso as he lipped out for that history-making 62 on the first day.

I wrote a piece on 10 Open Championship Facts/Moments for the Irish Examiner last week - you'll find it here:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/golf/10-major-moments-from-open-championship-history-409847.html - but it's safe to say that this Royal Troon dogfight will be added to item number 9 (Greatest Moments), right alongside the famous Watson/Nicklaus 'Duel in the Sun'.

It's worth noting that Watson (-12) and Nicklaus (-11) were so far ahead of the field at Turnberry that Hubert Green, who came third with a score of -1, declared: "I won the tournament I played in".

JB Holmes, who came third yesterday on -6, will probably feel the same way.