The British Open leaderboard is essentially the United Nations right now. Obviously, it’ll depend on when you’re reading this, but at the top are golfers from the United States, China, Denmark, Scotland, England, Sweden, Thailand and even South Africa. That’s nice and all, and yet this Open might’ve already been claimed by Ireland. We don’t even need to get into the weekend to award Guinness— yes, that Guinness—as the Champion Golfer Beer of the Year.
Although this year’s Open is taking place in Northern Ireland, the local delicacy is having yet another moment. Just under 280,000 fans are making their way to Royal Portrush this week, and many are doing their best to split the G. It’s not just the patrons, either.
It’s Open week at Portrush, so only right that the defending champion is having a Guinness at the Harbour Bar. pic.twitter.com/gUO051zcmg
— Ben Parsons (@_benparsons) July 14, 2025
Tyrrell Hatton’s Wednesday pre-Open prep: An evening round with his friends at a nearby pitch n putt followed by three pints of Guinness. He’s now T3.
A reporter asked: Will he go back to the Guinness after Friday’s round?
“Be rude not to. I think 3’s the magic number.”
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) July 18, 2025
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“Guinness has absolutely been the biggest seller this week,” an employee at Portrush’s The Open Arms concession tent told Belfast’s News Letter. “Our machine can’t actually keep up with the amount that has been sold! The lads in the back will be changing the kegs every few minutes.
“Each keg pulls eight pints, and we serve about 12 every 30 seconds. We’ve been busy in the mornings and afternoons. Everybody comes before they go towards the course, and then after they’ve finished watching the golf, they’ll come back here on the way out. We get waves of people coming through.”
We want to repeat that one more time: 12 pints of Guinness every 30 seconds. It doesn’t matter who wins the Open. No one’s beating that record.
It’s not just Portrush. Local bars are going through the Dublin stout in record time. A nearby pub, The Quays, doubled its Guinness order heading into this week and still ran out by the end of the first tournament day. Don’t worry! There was an extra Friday delivery.
Perhaps the craziest thing is that we’re still relatively early on in the tournament. Just think about all the Guinness that’ll be put down over the weekend, especially if we get (fingers crossed) a close finish. Even if they run out of glasses, we know one jug they can pour a Guinness into. We’re betting it wouldn’t be the first time.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
