Rory McIlroy's success is 'priceless' for golf tourism

Golf tourism in Northern Ireland is on a roll following Rory McIlroy's back-to-back triumphs at the Masters at Augusta National.

The region was already basking in a golden glow after Royal Portrush's successful hosting of The Open last year.

Research by Sheffield Hallam University found that event provided £89m to Northern Ireland's economy and generated more than £280m of economic benefit.

With McIlroy now having sealed his second Masters title at the weekend, his home golf club in Holywood is riding the wave of his success.

Will Elliott, the club's sales and marketing manager, said visitors to the club increased by 168% in the three months after McIlroy's 2025 Masters win, in comparison to the same three-month period in the previous year.

He expects visitor numbers to continue to rise this year, with interest from cruise ship passengers increasing too.

They have created a tour within the club - the Rory Experience Tour - with some of the golfer's trophies and memorabilia, giving it "a destination vibe more than just a golf club vibe".

He said the club had become "a must do thing to do" for tourists interested in golf.

"We had Germans up on Sunday evening watching the Masters and they had designed their trip around being at Holywood for the Masters."

The atmosphere in the clubhouse was "electric", he added.

"Just after midnight Rory's manager messaged to put on a free bar until it closed so that went down a treat I'm sure you can imagine."

In Northern Ireland more widely, tee times for the prime links courses of Royal Portrush and Royal County Down are already sold out for 2027.

Gary McNeill, head golf professional at Royal Portrush, attributes this to a range of factors, including McIlroy's success and the club hosting The Open and Irish Open in recent years.

He added that Rory and other big names - like Darren Clarke, Graham McDowell and Pádraig Harrington - had played "a massive part" in large events coming to Northern Ireland.

"Whenever Rory wins something big, it really gives such a boost to the country and keeps the focus on golf in this country," he added.

The Open at Portrush last year had a "magnificent atmosphere" and felt like "a homecoming" for McIlroy after his first Masters win, McNeill said.

"It gave all those who came to the championship to spectate the opportunity to congratulate Rory and cheer him on as well."

Tourism NI has previously estimated that golf tourism is now worth about £86m to the economy annually.

This value more than doubled in the past decade, from £33.2m in 2014.

George Diamondis, Tourism NI's head of business solutions, said golf in Northern Ireland was in "an amazing place" - and there were a number of factors behind the "huge increase in appetite".

"There's Rory and his Masters win, Rory and Shane Lowry doing so well at the Ryder Cup last year, The Open hosted at Royal Portrush and even going back to the Irish Open at Royal County Down [in 2024].

"We are already looking at demand and visitors into 2028."

Diamondis described the images of McIlroy getting his hands on the Green Jacket again at Augusta as "gold dust".

"Think of how much that would cost me to promote Northern Ireland for that amount of media," he said.

"That's priceless for us to be able to market Northern Ireland through an ambassador like Rory."

Golf tourists from the US and Canada make up the majority of overseas visitors to Northern Ireland, because the North American market tends to book further in advance.

"It is a tee time at Royal Portrush, it is a tee time at Royal County Down, they want to go home with the crest on the polo shirt," Diamondis said, adding that it was "a real accolade" for golfers to play two of the top 10 golf courses in the world.

He said visitors from Great Britain were "also really important".

"They will come to Belfast for a weekend, play a couple of courses in the city and go to the coast and maybe play the hidden gems."

Mark Faloon, co-director of golf tour operator 18Ireland, said the market in Northern Ireland was "evolving".

"Rory winning the Masters again will definitely lead to an increase in visitors for golf," he said.

Faloon said that while the world-famous links courses remained "a huge draw", more visitors were also coming "looking for a broader mix of golf".

His fellow co-director, Gary O'Hara, said that when McIlroy wins a major such as the Masters, "you can almost feel the ripple effect straight away".

"It sparks conversations, enquiries and interest from golfers all over the world who want to come and experience where he's from and where he learned the game."

For Diamondis, it is about maintaining momentum, and he said the ambition was to make Northern Ireland the "best place to play golf outside of St Andrews" over the next decade.

He said last year's announcement of plans for a new links golf course to be built about 20 miles from Royal Portrush, at Bellarena, was a "game-changer".

"It will be the first links course in 100 years built in Northern Ireland and that will almost double the number of visitor tee times we have available across links golf," he added.

"That is really going to help us manage that demand."