Royal County Down Championship Links
Royal County Down Championship Links: Old Tom Morris (1889). Par 71, 7,206 yards. Emily Toy won the 2019 Women's Amateur Championship here with 1 up.
Royal County Down Championship Links: Old Tom Morris (1889). Par 71, 7,206 yards. Emily Toy won the 2019 Women's Amateur Championship here with 1 up.
Royal County Down Championship Links: Old Tom Morris (1889). Par 71, 7,206 yards. Emily Toy won the 2019 Women's Amateur Championship here with 1 up.
Updated October 24, 2026
19 editions on the record, by event, newest first.
pre-European Tour
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | Arthur Lees | 287 | by 2 strokes |
| 1935 | Ernest Whitcombe | 292 | won in a playoff |
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Rasmus Højgaard | 275 (−9) | by 1 stroke · DP World Tour |
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Søren Kjeldsen | 282 (−2) | won in a playoff · European Tour / DP World Tour |
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Noboru Sugai | 281 (−3) | by 2 strokes · The R&A / European Senior Tour |
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | Ernest Whitcombe | 288 | by 4 strokes · pre-European Tour |
The R&A
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Emily Toy | 1 up | |
| 2006 | Belén Mozo | 3 & 1 | |
| 1963 | Brigitte Varangot | 3 & 1 | |
| 1950 | Lally Segard | 3 & 2 | |
| 1935 | Wanda Morgan | 3 & 2 | |
| 1927 | Simone Thion de la Chaume | 5 & 4 | |
| 1920 | Cecil Leitch | 7 & 6 | |
| 1907 | May Hezlet | 2 & 1 | |
| 1899 | May Hezlet | 2 & 1 |
The R&A
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Graeme Storm | 7 & 6 | |
| 1970 | Michael Bonallack | 8 & 7 |
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | United States | 12.5-11.5 | USGA / The R&A |
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | United States | 10.5-7.5 | USGA / The R&A |
The club was founded on 23 March 1889 in Lawrence's dining rooms beside the railway station; Old Tom Morris was invited to advise for "an expense not to exceed £4" and on his advice 18 holes were ready by mid-1890.
In the 1898 Irish Professional Tournament final at Newcastle, Harry Vardon beat J.H. Taylor 12 & 11 with a morning 71, declared a new record; Taylor said, "Who could stand against that?"
Nineteen-year-old Belfast amateur Jimmy Bruen opened the 1939 Irish Open with a course-record 66 before a final-round 81 dropped him to sixth.
The links sits at the foot of the Mountains of Mourne on Dundrum Bay; the tee shot on the 9th aims straight at the peak of Slieve Donard with the fairway 80 feet below.
Source: Top 100 Golf Courses: Royal County Down (Championship)
The "Hat Man" still mixes the pairings for the Saturday matches (foursomes in winter, four-balls in summer) as he did about 100 years ago.
Source: Top 100 Golf Courses: Royal County Down (Championship)
Many bunkers are fringed with coarse grass that gathers the ball, and the course still has several blind drives.
Source: Top 100 Golf Courses: Royal County Down (Championship)
The long par-3 4th is described as "innumerable gorse bushes, ten bunkers, three mountain peaks, and one spire".
Source: Top 100 Golf Courses: Royal County Down (Championship)
Old Tom Morris
Later modifications to the Morris layout (dates not confirmed)
Source: Wikipedia infobox
The PGA Tour and DP World Tour weeks at this course since 2017.
| Year | Event | Winner | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Amgen Irish Open 12–15 September 2024 | Rasmus Højgaard | DP World Tour |
Every value is shown as recorded in GNN's tour-course research (profiles, championship history, the tour's visits since 2017, stories, details and course changes, each with its sources). A value no source confirmed is left out; nothing is estimated. The light in the room is the sun's real position on the last day of a recorded visit.
The routing and ground are drawn from OpenStreetMap data, © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License (ODbL). The clubhouse is drawn by GNN from reference photographs; the photographs stay private.
Data: royal-county-down-championship.json. Spot an error? See corrections.