The Timeline

The first Captains match
With hickories and gutties at the ready, and donning a variety of headgear from cloth caps to bowler hats, Portmarnock’s enthusiastic golfing pioneers watch the first Captain’s match (George Ross is on the extreme left) on the embryonic links. With the formal opening of nine holes on December 26th, 1894, a new era had been launched in life on the peninsula.

The clubs first clubhouse opens
Erected in 1896, on the site of the current clubhouse, it was made of timber, had a corrugated iron roof and measured a mere 57 x 47 feet. George Ross, the engineer in charge, designed it so that the verandah faced up the current first fairway.

Irish Open Amateur Championship is staged at Portmarnock Golf Club
The clubhouse and course developments of 1896, paved the way for a staging of the Irish Amateur Open Championship, captured by John Ball, the greatest amateur of his day. In fact Ball was the first amateur winner of the Open Championship, in 1890 at Prestwick, and a measure of his dominance at Portmarnock was that he overwhelmed his hapless opponent by no less than 13 and 11 in the 36-hole final. In the same year, ambitious members put up a professional prize of £100 which was won by the great Harry Vardon who overcame elite rivals while establishing a record of 69 for the new course. Vardon is pictured in the centre.

Portmarnock Golf Club hosts it’s first Irish Ladies Championship
Miss Maud Stuart (Portrush Golf Club) teeing off during the semi-final. Miss Stuart would be beaten by Rhona Adair (Killymoon) who would go on to win the Championship.

New Clubhouse Opens
Fire destroyed Portmarnock’s first clubhouse. In February, 1906 plans for a new clubhouse costing £4,500 were accepted by the members and in October of the same year the new clubhouse opened. Today, much of the remaining clubhouse still remains.

Portmarnock Golf Club’s first members group photograph
Hanging in the clubhouse today is the original first photograph commemorating the gathering of the members of that year.

The first Irish Professional Open is staged at Portmarnock Golf Club
Portmarnock became the scene of the most significant development in the history of tournament play in this country, with the launch of the Irish Professional Open. Organised by the Golfing Union of Ireland with a prize fund of £1,000, it was determined the event would be held north and south of the Border on alternate years. George Duncan was the inaugural winner and an elite field included five-time Open winner, JH Taylor, who remarked afterwards: “Portmarnock challenges comparison with any links in the world” A fascinated spectator from his parents’ apartment in the clubhouse, was five-year-old Joe Carr.

The British Ladies Championship is staged for the first time on Irish Soil.
Hosted in June 1931, the tournament drew huge crowds over the 5 day matchplay event. The final saw Enid Wilson beating the young English lady Wanda Morgan by 7/6

Bobby Locke becomes the first non-British winner of the Irish Open Championship at Portmarnock
This was Bobby Locke’s first Professional win outside of South Africa. The Championship brought some of the games top players to Portmarnock including Henry Cotton, Max Faulkner, Dai Rees and young amateurs like Jimmy Bruen and Joe Carr also competed.

Fred Daly wins Irish Open Championship
The end of the war was followed by the return of the Irish Open in Portmarnock in 1946 and saw the first Irish winner in the cheery form of Ulsterman Fred Daly. He was the first Irish man to win The British Open Championship in 1947 at Hoylake.

The British Amateur Championship is held at Portmarnock Golf Club
When the R and A scheduled their Amateur Championship for Portmarnock, the 26 counties had become Eire (or Ireland), under the 1937 constitution but had remained within the Commonwealth with King George as head of state. All this was to change, however, with the passing of the Republic of Ireland Act on April 18th 1949, seven months after the Taoiseach, John A Costello, had made the surprise announcement on a trip to Canada. Still, the Championship went ahead in the new Republic and had the largest American entry since World War II.

Harry Bradshaw appointed Club Professional
A year after Harry Bradshaw had lost a play-off to Bobby Locke in the Open Championship at Royal St George’s, he was appointed to the most coveted club professional’s post in the Irish game. Through the warmth of his personality and skill as a player and teacher, The Brad, as he became affectionately known, made lasting friendships among the members while as a genial host to celebrity visitors, he richly enhanced the club’s international status.

The groundwork begins for the Canada Cup coming to Ireland
Pierce Purcell, a former president of the Golfing Union of Ireland by this stage, travelled to the Canada Cup at Wentworth, where Ben Hogan and Sam Snead emerged victorious.. While there, he used his friendship with tournament organiser, John Jay Hopkins, to explore the possibility of bringing the event to Portmarnock. And by the time the ailing Hopkins died a year later, the crucial groundwork had already been done.

The Canada Cup (World Cup) comes to Portmarnock Golf Club
The Canada Cup is staged. On asking Allen Siebens, executive director of the International Golf Association (IGA) who would organise and finance the tournament, Pierce Purcell was told: "You will. And the financing is in Portmarnock's hands." Purcell estimated the cost at about £30,000, the annual salaries of 30 middle-range civil servants at that time. Irish Dunlop guaranteed £10,000, Failte Ireland provided £5,000 and the remainder came from gate receipts and programme advertising.

Portmarnock Golf Club hosts Shells Wonderful World of Golf
Billy Casper (USA) and Harry Bradshaw compete for the prize with Casper eventually winning the 18 hole match in which the great Gene Sarazen was match commentator.

Alcan Golfer Of the Year comes to Portmarnock Golf Club
Bruce Devlin wins the Golfer of the Year Championship with a score of 278 while the Alcan International Tournament was captured by Irelands Paddy Skerritt.

The Third Nine is completed and opened for play
Though the idea was mooted as early as 1935, it was 36 years later before the third nine was completed. Costing a modest £3,500 and designed by Fred Hawtree, it represents something of a masterpiece in routing insofar as the only change required to the Championship layout was a new fairway and green for the long sixth. There, the grass bunker to the left of the green remains as a reminder of the earlier hole.

Irish Open returns to Portmarnock Golf Club for sequence of 13 events (between 1976 – 2003)

The Walker Cup is played in Ireland for the first time in 1991 at Portmarnock Golf Club
Team Captain’s Jim Gabrielsen (USA) and George MacGregor (GB&I) picked exceptionally strong teams with some of the world’s future golf superstars playing during a climatic week in which the USA won 14 points to 10 points. Famous names from the team include Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley, Phil Mickelson and David Duval.

Portmarnock Golf Club Centenary Year
The Centenary Captain, Eddie Butler, and Committee, arranged a series of celebratory events for members and guests throughout a busy year. The Club also marked the Centenary with the staging of the Irish Amateur Close Championship in which Waterville’s David Higgins defeated Padraig Harrington on the 20th hole of the final.

20th European Amateur Championship comes to Portmarnock Golf Club
Spain with their teenage sensation Sergio Garcia narrowly beat Scotland (2nd place) and Ireland (3rd place) to win the team event. Ireland is represented by Portmarnock members Noel Fox and Jody Fanagan as well their team mates Richard Coughlan, Garth McGimpsey, Keith Nolan and Peter Lawrie. Pictured is Walker Cup star and Portmarnock Golf Club member Noel Fox playing the 13th hole.