Royal County Down Golf Club is a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

club in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, located in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

Newry, Mourne and Down Newry, Mourne and Down () is a Local government in Northern Ireland, local government district in Northern Ireland that was created on 1 April 2015 by merging Newry and Mourne District and Down (district), Down District. It covers most of the so ...

. It opened on 23 March 1889 and is one of the oldest golf clubs in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It has two 18-hole links

courses Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

, the Championship Course and the Annesley Links.

Significant tournaments

Royal County Down has made outstanding contributions to Irish golf from the Club's beginnings, hosting many important tournaments, starting soon after it opened, and continuing to the present day. Notably, the Club in 2007 became just the second Irish venue, after

Portmarnock Portmarnock () is a coastal town in County Dublin, Ireland, north of the city of Dublin, with significant beaches, a modest commercial core and inland residential estates, and two golf courses, including one of Ireland's best-known golf clubs. , ...

, to host the

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland featuring players from the United Kingdom and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup ...

. The

Irish Open Irish Open may refer to: *Irish Open (golf), a golf tournament on the European Tour ** Irish Senior Open, a golf tournament on the European Seniors Tour **Ladies Irish Open, a golf tournament on the Ladies European Tour * Irish Open (darts), annua ...

on the

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

took place in late May in 2015, returning to Royal County Down after 76 years. It previously hosted the event three times, all prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The

British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship The Women's Amateur Championship, previously known as the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship, was founded in 1893 by the Ladies' Golf Union. It is organised by The R&A, which merged with the Ladies' Golf Union in 2017. Until the dawn of th ...

were held on the course in June 2019. *

Senior British Open Championship The Senior Open Championship, or simply The Senior Open (and originally known as the Senior British Open), is a professional golf tournament for players aged 50 and over. It is jointly owned and run by The R&A, the same body that organises The O ...

: 2000 (winner:

Christy O'Connor Jnr Christy O'Connor Jnr (born Christopher O'Connor; 19 August 1948 – 6 January 2016) was an Irish professional golfer. He is best known for defeating American Fred Couples at the 1989 Ryder Cup, helping Europe secure the trophy. Early life O'Co ...

), 2001 (winner:

Ian Stanley Ian Christopher Stanley (born 28 February 1957) is a British musician, songwriter and record producer. He was a member of Tears for Fears for most of the 1980s, and played a key role in the making of their multi-platinum-selling second studio a ...

) and 2002 (winner:

Noboru Sugai Noboru Sugai is a Japanese professional golfer. Sugai was born in Tokyo, to a Japanese father and a Russian mother. He turned professional in 1975 and has won three tournaments and over 275 million ¥ on the Japan Golf Tour. In 2002, he beca ...

). *

The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

: 1970 (winner:

Michael Bonallack Sir Michael Francis Bonallack, Order of the British Empire, OBE (31 December 1934 – 26 September 2023) was an English amateur golfer who was one of the leading administrators in world golf in the late 20th century. Early life Bonallack wa ...

) and 1999 (winner:

Graeme Storm Graeme Raymond Storm (born 13 March 1978) is an English professional golfer. Career Storm was born in Hartlepool. He learnt his trade at Hartlepool Golf Club, where he still holds the course record of 62. He won The Amateur Championship in 1999 ...

). *

: 1899 (winner:

May Hezlet Mary Elizabeth Linzee "May" Hezlet (29 April 1882 – 27 December 1978) was a British amateur golfer and sports writer. She has been called "probably Ireland's greatest woman golfer". Early life Hezlet was born in Gibraltar, the daughter of Lie ...

), 1907 (winner:

), 1920 (winner:

Cecil Leitch Charlotte Cecilia Pitcairn Leitch (13 April 1891 – 16 September 1977) was a British amateur golfer. She was born in Silloth, Cumberland, England, the daughter of a local physician and one of three sisters who excelled at the game of golf. L ...

), 1927 (winner:

Simone de la Chaume Simone Thion de la Chaume (24 November 1908 – 4 September 2001) was a French amateur golfer. In 1924, she became the first foreign player to win the Girls Amateur Championship and in 1927 the first to win the British Ladies Amateur, then the m ...

), 1935 (winner:

Wanda Morgan Wanda Morgan (22 March 1910 – 8 June 1995) was a leading English golfer of the 1930s. She won the Womens Amateur Championship in 1935, having been a runner-up in 1931. She also won the English Women's Amateur Championship three times, in 1931 ...

), 1950 (winner:

Vicomtesse de St Sauveur Dorothée Sonia "Lally" Segard (née Vagliano) (4 April 1921 – 3 March 2018), also known as Vicomtesse de Saint Sauveur, was a French amateur golfer. Early life Segard was born in Paris and the oldest of three siblings of a Greek (born in Mar ...

), 1963 (winner:

Brigitte Varangot Brigitte Varangot (1 May 1940 – 12 October 2007) was a French amateur golfer. Early life Varangot was born in Biarritz in the French Basque Country and was a self-taught golfer, who did not take many lessons and did not practice a lot. Lally ...

) and 2006 (winner:

Belén Mozo Belén Mozo (born 25 September 1988) is a Spanish professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour. As an amateur, Mozo won the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship in 2006. Later that year she joined the USC Trojan ...

). *

Curtis Cup The Curtis Cup is the best known team trophy for women amateur golfers, awarded in the biennial Curtis Cup Match. It is co-organised by the United States Golf Association and The R&A and is contested by teams representing the United States and " ...

: 1968 United States defeated Great Britain & Ireland, 10.5 to 7.5. *

: 2007 United States defeated Great Britain & Ireland, 12.5 to 11.5. *

Palmer Cup The Palmer Cup is a 1200–1215 CE goblet from northern Syria or Jazira region, Jazira, and an example of early Islamic glass. It is sometimes described as "Ayyubid", since it corresponds to the time when the Ayyubids disputed control of areas of ...

: 2012 Europe defeated United States, 13½ to 10½. *

: 1928, 1935, 1939, 2015 and 2024 *

European Ladies' Team Championship The European Ladies' Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for women organised by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1959. It was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been pl ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

History

Royal County Down Golf Club secured 2nd place in golfscape's World's Top 100 Golf Course ranking 2020. Golf Digest ranked it #1 on its World's 100 Greatest Courses list for 2024. The Royal County Down Golf Club viewed from Donard Wood - geograph

The Royal County Down Golf Club viewed from Donard Wood - geograph

Scorecard

References

External links

* *
Golf Club Atlas
{{Authority control Organisations based in the United Kingdom with royal patronage Golf clubs and courses in Northern Ireland Sports clubs and teams in County Down Curtis Cup venues Walker Cup venues Golf clubs and courses designed by Harry Colt 1889 establishments in Ireland Irish Open (golf) venues Royal golf clubs

Significant tournaments

History

Scorecard

See also

References

External links