The Open-Portrush 51

The Open Championship’s historic return to Northern Ireland, golfer and journalist Rick Faragher reveals exactly what happened in 1951 when golf’s most prestigious championship left Great Britain for the first time.

It was a different era for the sport - caddies slept in sheds, there was no crowd control and the winner scooped a paltry £300. Yet seven decades ago, 183 of golf’s finest players arrived in the seaside town of Portrush to compete in the tournament. Among their ranks were fresh-faced lads straight from National Service, a former boxer, and even a youngster who would go on to become the BBC’s voice of golf. Each player had just one thing on their minds - returning home a winner.

A former university golfer in Northern Ireland and the USA, Rick picks up the story of the 1951 Open at Royal Portrush’s hushed, wooden-paneled clubhouse. He hears how The Open nearly landed at another Northern Irish course - and how the nearby pre-tournament qualifiers provided their own twists and turns.

Rick reveals the colourful characters taking part - a group of men from as far afield as Egypt, Australia and Argentina. He hears how the South African pre-tournament favourite had close ties to Belfast and how one local man was in with a real shot at scooping the Claret Jug on home turf.

The event’s sole surviving players - Belfast man Norman Drew and Peter Alliss (now better known to millions as golf’s most iconic commentator) - give Rick first-hand accounts of how play unfolded.

Rick hears how the competition was fierce and how each player had their own very personal motivation for wanting to be crowned Open champion. One by one, though, they would crumble under the pressure presented by the Dunluce links.

All but one, of course. A champion no one could have predicted. Except the man himself.
First transmitted 10.07.2019

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