The Chronicle - in shops now!

Wow - what a week!

No prizes for guessing the major focus of this week's paper.

Yep, The 153rd Open dominates both news and sport after a memorable few days on the north coast.

As international sporting events go it doesn't get much bigger or better, with almost 300,000 visitors watching the action unfold on the fairways plus many more visiting the area to simply soak up the atmosphere.

But, will The R&A's next visit to Ireland be south of the border, more precisely Dublin and Portmarnock Golf Club?

That is the focus of our front page splash with Peter Winter reporting that officials from Fingal County Council, the local government district covering Portmarnock, visited Royal Portrush on Friday.

According to our reporter, they were here to see the extent of the operation required to host a major golf tournament – both on and off the course.

The full story is both on the front page and inside with extensive reports from on and off the course throughout the paper, including plenty of photos from Saturday's band parade in Portrush which provoked much debate.

Elsewhere, we look ahead to a number of major events taking place in the coming days including the Red Sails Festival in Portstewart, the Armoy Road Races, the Foyle Cup and SuperCupNI which begins with its traditional parade through the streets of Coleraine on Sunday.

Wow - looks like it's gonna be another busy week!