![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_GOLF-OPEN-BRITAIN.jpg\")
The 18th green at Portrush as Scottie Scheffler celebrates(Image: AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\nHundreds of thousands of fans descended on the north coast to see the world\u2019s best golfers tee offThe 18th green at Portrush as Scottie Scheffler celebrates(Image: AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Open at Royal Portrush<\/a> produced an \u201camazing\u201d atmosphere, local and international fans said, as the tournament drew to a close on Sunday.<\/p>\n While the championship<\/a> produced disappointment for homegrown hero Rory McIlroy<\/a>, the professionally-run four days of top-quality golf were hailed as a \u201ctribute to the people of Northern Ireland \u201d.<\/p>\n Hundreds of thousands of fans descended on the north coast to see the world\u2019s best golfers tee off at the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club<\/a>, which ultimately saw American Scottie Scheffler claim the Claret Jug.<\/p>\n A scattering of rain showers earlier in the tournament failed to dampen the spirit of attendees who were largely graced with glorious sunshine on Sunday to show off the \u201cimmaculate\u201d course.<\/p>\n Hopes of a fairy tale McIlroy victory were ended by his double bogey on the 10th, but enthusiasm remained alive for the thousands that continued to follow his every shot.<\/p>\n There was also great respect and appreciation shown by the home crowd to the peerless Scheffler as he turned what many had hoped would be a drama-filled afternoon into a near serene procession to victory.<\/p>\n In a repeat of 2019, crowds broke through the fences on the 18th to charge down behind the world number one as he approached the green.<\/p>\n Tourism NI could not have hoped for better conditions as the weather<\/a> held for Scheffler to sink the final putt.<\/p>\n In scenes almost more reminiscent of a Ryder Cup than an Open, bursts of rival chanting rang out from the enthusiastic onlooking fans.<\/p>\n American fans chanted \u201cUSA, USA, USA\u201d, while others tried to drown the chorus out with \u201cole, ole, ole\u201d and \u201cEurope, Europe, Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n Former US senator George Mitchell, who chaired the 1998 Good Friday negotiations to their successful outcome, said it was a \u201cspecial treat\u201d to return to Northern Ireland for the Open.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cThe people of Northern Ireland are energetic, intelligent, active and I think it is a great place to live, work, visit \u2013 whether you\u2019re here to watch a golf tournament or do anything else.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think it is, in a way, a tribute to the people of Northern Ireland that the Open is here again and hopefully will be back again often.\u201d<\/p>\n Richard Warke and Shauneen Armstrong, both from Castlerock, described the atmosphere at the Open as \u201camazing\u201d even with spells of rain but \u201cunreal\u201d in the sunshine.<\/p>\n Richard said: \u201cThe set up is so professional, it is just amazing. So many different nationalities as well and everybody is so friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the course was in \u201cimmaculate\u201d shape, adding that it was \u201cgreat our wee country could put this on\u201d.<\/p>\n Shauneen said she found attending the Open as her first-ever golf event to be \u201coverwhelming\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is class to see the amount of people here, from all over,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Big golf fans Linn Reppen and Finn Bauer, from Kvinesdal, Norway, spent three days at the Open supporting Viktor Hovland and Kristoffer Reitan.<\/p>\n Finn described his first experience at a major tournament as \u201cabsolutely amazing\u201d, adding that the course was \u201cunbelievable\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been a really nice experience \u2013 it is not going to be my last major,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Norwegians said they would hope to come back to try the course out for themselves.<\/p>\n Neeta and Kaushik Dhorajiwala, a married couple from London, had the opportunity to watch Shane Lowry play.<\/p>\n Neeta said: \u201cIt has been organised really well. Lots of people obviously. The queues are massive but then they can\u2019t avoid them, can\u2019t they?\u201d<\/p>\n Kaushik said: \u201cIt has been amazing, like a carnival. You see all different kinds of people and cultures here, and that\u2019s very good.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he had been to the Open at Royal St George\u2019s, but added: \u201cThis is better.\u201d<\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage <\/strong>here<\/a> and sign up to our Be lifestyle newsletter<\/a> for all the latest showbiz, fashion, beauty, family features and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of thousands of fans descended on the north coast to see the world\u2019s best golfers tee offThe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1144,83701,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-278287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-northern-ireland","9":"tag-the-open-championship","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114887602719383194","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753045579_846_0_GOLF-OPEN-BRITAIN.jpg\")
A facemask of England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick is waved in the crowd(Image: AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Shauneen](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_Warke.jpg\")
Shauneen Armstrong and Richard Warke, both from Castlerock<\/p>\n![\"Kaushik](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_neeta.jpg\")
Kaushik Dhorajiwala and Neeta Dhorajiwala from London<\/p>\n