Golf enthusiasts visiting The Open at Royal Portrush are facing some of the steepest drink prices in Northern Ireland.
The championship's bar prices exceed even those at Belfast International Airport, placing the tournament amongst the priciest venues for a pint in the region.
Spectators who have already paid up to £130 for entry tickets must dig deeper into their pockets if they fancy a drink whilst watching the world's top golfers compete.
A round of four pints of Guinness comes to £31, making refreshments a significant additional expense for fans attending the prestigious tournament.
Whilst the golf stars competing can likely afford such prices, ordinary fans face a different reality.
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|A fan's receipt revealing the pricing of the drinks at The Open
The £7.75 price tag applies equally to pints of cider and Singha beer, representing a 25p increase from last year's championship.
This pricing structure creates a stark contrast with the tournament's lucrative prize fund of $17million (£12.7million), where the winner takes home $3.1million (£2.3million) and even 70th place earns $38,900 (£29,000).
The drinks at Royal Portrush cost approximately £3 more per pint than what spectators paid at the Masters in Augusta earlier this year, where five beers cost $30 (£22.93), working out at £4.59 per beer.
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The Open's pricing sits in line with other major British sporting events.
Boxing fans at Wembley face £7.85 pints for the Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois fight, though London audiences are more accustomed to such costs.
Royal Ascot charged nearly £8 for a pint this year, with Peroni and Guinness at £7.80 and Grolsch at £7.
Wimbledon spectators paid £7.50 for a 300ml bottle of Stella Artois, matching last year's price, whilst the non-alcoholic version cost £6.90.
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Full pints of Stella at Wimbledon reached £8.85 for the 2025 tournament, up from £8.50 last year and £7.55 in 2023, demonstrating the upward trajectory of drinks pricing at premier sporting venues.
The steady rise in drinks prices at major sporting events has become a familiar pattern for British sports fans.
The Open's £7.75 pints represent a 25p increase from the previous year, mirroring similar upward trends across other prestigious tournaments.
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At Wimbledon, pint prices for Stella Artois have climbed from £7.55 in 2023 to £8.50 last year and £8.85 for the current tournament.
These incremental increases year-on-year mean fans are paying significantly more for refreshments than they did just a few seasons ago.
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The pricing at Royal Portrush places The Open firmly amongst Britain's most expensive sporting venues for drinks, despite its Northern Ireland location where pints typically cost considerably less than in London or the South East.