O/T Warning Open at Portrush selling out fast

[Niall C]

Kalen

As Ryan suggests, the R&A do look very closely at infrastructure and accommodation. Not everyone has to pay £20K to rent a house.

The idea of using a cruise ship is mentioned fairly frequently but the only problem is that the local harbour usually isn't big enough to accommodate it and secondly mooring it off shore and transferring people backwards and forwards would be logistically challenging and indeed impossible if the weather turns nasty which can happen. Not sure if that would be the case at Portrush.

Niall

[Tony_Muldoon]

Have seen Navy Inshore patrol boats in the harbour, but its not large enough for a modern cruise ship.






At the K club we were all bussed in from parking 45-60 mins away. The torrential rain made the main car park unusable, but they'd anticipated that possibilty and we were diverted to an airfield 20 mins further than planned. Similar tactics employed at Celtic Manor.  There is a wealth of experencie for these bodies to plan big events and as others have pointed out the R&A have been doing it the longest!


If the R&A don't end up with egg on their faces will the negative chorus on here sing their apologies as loudly?
Whatever, its now set for success. 


I would have thought everyone on here is now looking forward to it?

[Niall C]

Even if the R&A don't turn a profit, which is doubtful I'd have thought, it still won't mean it won't be a success.

Niall

[Adam Lawrence]

I don't really understand where this idea that Portrush is likely to be an unsuccessful Open venue has come from.


Let me tell you that I am quite sure, given decent weather, it is going to be an Open for the ages, one that goes down in history.


Just look at the numbers if you are dubious about that. If, as has been suggested, the attendance numbers are capped at 50,000 per day for Championship play then it is very likely that the overall week's attendance will break the all-time record, 239,000 at St Andrews. And it has SOLD OUT ALMOST TWELVE MONTHS IN ADVANCE!!!!!!


I hope to God I can get a media pass.

[Mike Sweeney]

I was doing a family hike on Monday in Innsbruck, Austria and we had lunch on Nordkette mountain range's lower tram area. It was a family style place, and I happened to sit across from a Royal Portrush member. All statements coming from him was total excitement for the event. He explained the tiers of tickets and the members were actually in Tier 3. He was grateful that he got seats!!


Sounds like it could be a great event to me.

[Thomas Dai]

For what it’s worth I suspect that 2019 at Portrush will be a huge success.
Atb

[Kalen Braley]

Well thats the beauty of it...


Regardless of what happens, it will be called a success either way.  The traffic, logisitics, rowdy drunk fans will just be "bumps in the road"

[Tony_Muldoon]

Well thats the beauty of it...


Regardless of what happens, it will be called a success either way.  The traffic, logisitics, rowdy drunk fans will just be "bumps in the road"

This thread is unbelievable and it just gets worse.


Kalen what evidence have you got to suggest their will be "rowdy drunk fans"? In a US university you'd be hauled over the coals for racism - and I can provide plenty of eveidence for that.




I'm out of this mess.

[Kalen Braley]

Tony,


It happens plenty on this side of the pond too.  Even at the last major several players commented on how the PGA was a nice change as there were very few disrespectful/drunk fans.  Very polite and all.


If I had to guess NY fans are probably the worst behaved at golf tournaments...


P.S.  Last I checked all races drink alcohol, not sure what the connection is on that one...

[Tony_Muldoon]

Kalen please provide evidence of "rowdy drunk fans" at previous Opens?  Or perhaps you are referring to the large nos of Irish who will be there?


Or you could recognise you have nothing useful to say and step away from the keyboard.

[Kalen Braley]

Sure deal. Scroll about half way down and click thru the slideshow.  It even has a pic of the famous "18th hole" guy.


https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/718106/the-open-championship-2018-naked-streakers-pictured-tiger-woods-jordan-spieth-winner


P.S.  The next time you gonna mount your high horse, go golfing instead! 

[Kalen Braley]

This one was just last month.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y65kCFfTodw

[Tony_Muldoon]

Kalen FYI the Daily Star is the lowest of our tabloids. Wouldn't surprise me if they paid the girl.
One rival actually found 14 times they were right!
https://www.indy100.com/article/14-daily-star-headlines-that-were-actually-mostly-true--lkUQrQjsxl




Still not a shred of evidence of "rowdy drunk fans".   I bet if I looked I could find two examples of bad behaviour at Augusta, we know some people have had their patron status removed. Would you accept that as proof of rowdy drunk fans?

[Mark Pearce]

Kalen,


The Irish may be the best behaved drunks on the planet.  Sure, some fans may be inebriated.  I sincerely doubt any will be rowdy.


Dean,


Have any of the locals you are relying on ever been to Sandwich?  Or Gullane?  Or Turnbery?  If they had, they might understand that Portrush is far better placed to host an Open than those "towns", yet somehow they all manage.  It's easy to assume that the R&A are incompetent buffoons.  As has been alluded to above, however, they are actually very, very good at arranging very large sporting occasions.

[Jeff Johnston]

I don't really understand where this idea that Portrush is likely to be an unsuccessful Open venue has come from.


Let me tell you that I am quite sure, given decent weather, it is going to be an Open for the ages, one that goes down in history.


Just look at the numbers if you are dubious about that. If, as has been suggested, the attendance numbers are capped at 50,000 per day for Championship play then it is very likely that the overall week's attendance will break the all-time record, 239,000 at St Andrews. And it has SOLD OUT ALMOST TWELVE MONTHS IN ADVANCE!!!!!!


I hope to God I can get a media pass.

I think Adam has it spot on - barring a fairly extreme act of God it's going to be a cracker. Come 0630 on Day 1, as the Dazzler is invited to biff the opening shot, you're going to see some buzz - London to a brick the Championship will never have seen crowds or a cheer like it for the first match. The buzz will roll on from there.

[Niall C]

Adam

In terms of this thread I think any comment on the likely success was about the financial side of things in that the R&A have been the victims of their success with all the tickets having been sold at the discounted price. Even so I can't imagine they will lose money but maybe just not make as much as they hoped for ?

Niall

[Mark Chaplin]

There have been very successful “tented villages” at the last few Opens, I believe tents and sleeping bags are free for under 18s as well.

[Ryan Coles]

Mark


Do you think your post about a ‘financial disaster’ is hyperbole?


Surely if the financial ‘disaster’ was impending, they’d hold tickets back?


They go to the market direct, they aren’t hapless passengers, beholden to third party ticket sites.  if they were worried, they’d just stop presales.


Name me another event that sold out and was a financial disaster?


There are huge benefits to pre-sales: certainty, staffing, cash flow, investment income, lack of weather impingement, to name but a few.