It is time to invite Wales to the Open party
The R&A should ignore concerns and complete the full set of host nations for men’s major, writes James Corrigan
Portrush showed how a community, a country even, can be electrified by a golf event
It was supposed to be a positive announcement and, indeed, it will be magnificent to see the world’s best female golfers tackling Royal Porthcawl. Yet, in the wake of the remarkable success of Royal Portrush, it was inevitable that the focus would turn to the Open Championship – and the fact that Wales is the only country in the UK yet to have hosted the R&A’S male major.
The top table at the AIG Women’s British Open at Woburn consisted of Johnnie Cole-hamilton, the R&A’S executive director of championships, Dafydd Elis-thomas, the deputy minister for culture, sport and tourism for Wales, and Rhys James, the Royal Porthcawl captain.
After the traditional pleasantries, came the awkwardness, as Colehamilton and James offered wildly contrasting views of the chances of Porthcawl hosting the Open. The frosty
atmosphere which engulfed the room is best summed up by this edited version of the transcript:
Q: “Rhys, is Porthcawl interested in staging the Open?” Rhys James: “The club is certainly interested. We all saw what a massive success Portrush has been … and working closely with the R&A, with the Welsh government and other related organisations, it is certainly something that we would like to consider.
Q: “Johnnie, can you talk about it?” Johnnie Cole-hamilton: “I absolutely can. Martin Slumbers [the R&A chief executive] was quite clear at the Open Championship that we have no plans to take the Open to Royal Porthcawl.”
Red faces all around. Poor Rhys – the only one not paid to be there – suddenly resembled the character off the Ribena advert, while Colehamilton looked pig-sick to have had to stick to the party line. Elis-thomas, canny politician that he is as the former leader of Plaid Cymru, played a perfect flat bat when asked if he thought it was fair that Wales was the only member of the union not to feature on the Open rota. “I look at these things very pragmatically about what we can achieve, and my interest as sports minister is to invest the Welsh pound in an effective way,” he said. “It’s not a matter of competing with other parts of the UK.”
In other words: “I haven’t permission to commit the funds.” The Northern Irish government stumped up more than £30 million for Portrush and the Welsh government will be expected, at least, to match that. Yet while government support would be vital to convince the R&A to transport its pride and joy across the Severn Bridge – and there are no other options to Porthcawl in Wales – this is essentially about the governing body simply doing the right thing.
At the Open at Portrush, I asked a question. “England, Scotland, Northern Ireland … when are you going to take this thing to Wales?” For some reason the interview room erupted in laughter, but Slumbers eventually replied: “We are very happy with the 10 courses on the rota and have no plans to add any more.”
Peter Dawson, Slumbers’s predecessor, said the same about Portrush initially. But at least he added “never say never”. The most the R&A will say now is “it is not on the radar, at the moment”.
The R&A should make it known that it would like Wales to join its Open party. Ignore the concerns about “infrastructure” and the strength of the links because they are mere smokescreens. Portrush showed what was possible and highlighted how a community, a country even, can be electrified by a golf tournament. Why would the R&A not want to spread this love to Wales?