Golf superfan gets tattooed with star players ahead of Open’s return to NI

A golf superfan who has been tattooed with the faces of some of Europe’s best players ahead of the Open has won the approval of one of the stars inked on his leg.

Earlier this year, Jordan Black embarked on a challenge to get images of the triumphant 2023 European Ryder Cup team tattooed on his leg before the Open returned to his native Northern Ireland.

Jordan Black is hopeful of completing the golfing body art before the start of this year’s Ryder Cup in September (David Young/PA).

The 35-year-old from Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, now has Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Aberg and captain Luke Donald all depicted on his left leg.

While he will not have completed the set by the time the Open Championship tees off at Royal Portrush Golf Club on Thursday morning, he is confident of doing so before the start of this year’s Ryder Cup at the Bethpage Black course in New York in September.

And this week he got a chance to show off the progress on his golfing body art to one of the greats who is already inked on his leg.

Jon Rahm (top left) is one of the players already tattooed on Mr Black’s leg (David Young/PA).

The Carrickfergus Golf Club member got a favourable reaction from Spanish two-time major winner Rahm when he met him at the conclusion of one of his practice rounds at Portrush.

“He says he loves it,” Mr Black told the PA news agency.

“He’s seen it and he really likes it. So it’s nice to know that.”

He added: “I started it in February. I wanted to have it finished before the Open, but fell short of that deadline, but I’ll get it finished for the Ryder Cup. I’ve got Rory, Shane, Tommy, Ludvig, Jon Rahm and Luke Donald so far.”

Mr Black will be hoping to encounter some more of the game’s star players when he returns to Portrush on Friday to watch the second round action.

“I’m a massive golf fan, I’ve played for about 20 years,” he said.

“I’m going up on Friday with the family – I’m really looking forward to it.”