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The Open
Focus on delivering best Championship ahead of record week at The Open
27 Jun 25
4 mins
The focus of The R&A is on delivering the best Championship at The Open amid the continued growth of golf’s original major, says Chief Executive Mark Darbon.
History will be made at The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush this week as 278,000 fans converge on the famous Dunluce Links, significantly surpassing the attendance of 237,750 at the same venue in 2019. More than 1.2 million fans applied for tickets to Portrush this time around, and Darbon pointed to the “incredible demand” for access to the Championship, as the world’s greatest male golfers get set to compete across four days for the famous Claret Jug. And while The Open continues to grow in size, the priority of The R&A is to ensure a “better” Championship is staged each year. Speaking to the media ahead of his first Open as Chief Executive, Darbon said, “As you know, we're welcoming close to 280,000 people through the gates at The Open Championship, a record attendance outside of St Andrews, and we received more than 1.2 million applications for those tickets. That speaks to the incredible demand that this Championship holds. We're delighted to bring it to so many fans this week. “You'll see in that context from walking around the course just how much The Open has grown, even since 2019. I'm looking forward to continuing to work with the very talented team at The R&A to elevate and enhance The Open in the years to come.”
R&A Chief Executive Mark Darbon
“We have huge demand for our Open Championship, and we're keen to service that demand where we can. But it's not about just being bigger, it's about being better. So it's not about just simply the volume of people,” added Darbon.
“We work really respectfully with the clubs so I think this is a great example this week, the changes that have facilitated the staging of a modern Open Championship have also been changes that the membership base [at Royal Portrush] have been supportive of.
“It's improving and evolving their course for the better, while staying true to Harry Colt's original design here in the late 1880s.
“We think we work really respectfully and closely with our venues. It's not just about being bigger, it's about being better, and that will continue to be our approach.”
Revenue generated through the Championship also helps grow the game of golf on a global scale, and The R&A this week announced new participation figures showing the sustained growth of golf around the world.
The 2024 Global Participation Report outlined there are 108 million adults and juniors now playing golf across all formats of the sport in The R&A’s affiliated markets.
Total adult participation has increased since 2023 by 1.8 million to 64.1 million while total junior participation is 43.9 million.
New global participation stats have been published by The R&A
“The R&A has a very unique role to play. The revenues that we generate from this Championship play a critical role in supporting our work to invest in developing golf all around the world, a role that we are incredibly proud of,” said Darbon.
“Just these last few days we've announced some new participation figures for golf, excluding the US and Mexico which fall under the jurisdiction of the USGA, and there are now 108 million people playing this wonderful game all around the world, 64 million adults, 44 million juniors, with 80 per cent of those juniors engaging with the sport in non-traditional formats.
“There are so many other sports around the world that crave the scale of activity that we're seeing and the sustainable growth that we're seeing and that gives us strong a strong footprint and outlook for the future.”
You can access The R&A Global Participation Report here.
Find more information on The 153rd Open, and ways you can follow the Championship, here.