British Open: Wilma Erskine is ready to drop the mic at Royal Portrush

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland —  Wilma Erskine has the title of secretary manager at Royal Portrush, and she can’t count the number of times she’s been asked if she’s the typist or assigned to answering phones.

But she’s the person in charge at the prestigious golf club, and a huge reason that the British Open has returned to Northern Ireland for the first time in nearly seven decades. The only other time it was played outside of England or Scotland was in 1951, at Portrush.

“People said you’ll never get it, that it’s too big an event for Northern Ireland,” Erskine said this week, looking out the window from the second floor of the clubhouse with rain whipping sideways. “But I think we can do it. We just need to get this weather sorted.”

Erskine, 61, for years the only woman in a male-dominated world of running golf clubs, has won over doubters before. She started at a small club at age 22, moved on to a slightly larger one, then took over at Portrush at 26.

“I couldn’t do that now,” she said. “I’ve grown with the job. It’s a way of life.”

Not for much longer. She’s retiring in the fall after 34 years at the club. She’s been made an honorary member, the first woman afforded that distinction, and plans to move on to another career.

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“I’ll get a real job; this is a fun job,” she said. “I’m a director on a couple of boards, strategy, finance. I’m going to be joining a hotel board. I’ve got some plans.”

There couldn’t be a better time to drop the mic and walk offstage. She just brought the biggest event in the history of Northern Ireland, or Ireland, to the Emerald Isle. That, in turn, changed Portrush to the tune of $21 million.

“It was a run-down seaside town, that’s what it was,” she said. “Now it’s a desirable place to buy a second home for retirement. And it’s sort of an in town to come and visit.”

That said, she isn’t going to sit around and marvel at the accomplishment this week.

“Everybody says, `Are you excited?’” she said. “I don’t get excited. I’ll get excited on Monday after it’s all finished.”

Nor does she take all the credit.

“We have gotten a lot of help from the government, tourism, the local council, members, and the R&A,” she said, referring to the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, which oversees the Open Championship and its “rota” of locales.

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Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy looks for his ball in the long rough on the first hole during the first round of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.  (Peter Morrison / Associated Press)

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Alexander Bjork of Sweden plays a shot on the 18th hole during the first round of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.  (Stuart Franklin / Getty Images)

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Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland tees off on the seventh hole during the first round of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.  (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

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Gary Woodland of the United States climbs the steep wall of a bunker while attempting to find sure footing to play his ball on the top edge of the bunker on the seventh hole during the first round of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.  (Peter Morrison / Associated Press)

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Tiger Woods of the United States plays his tee shot on the fifth hole during the first round of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.  (Jon Super / Associated Press)

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Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland waits to play on the fifth green during the first round of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.  (Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)

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Golfers arrive on the 13th green during the first round of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.  (Glyn Kirk / AFP/Getty Images)

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Tiger Woods walks toward the third tee during the first round of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.  (Jon Super / Associated Press)

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Phil Mickelson plays a shot after missing the green on the 16th hole during the first round of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland. Mickelson bogeyed the par-three and shot five-over 76.  (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

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Jason Day of Australia tees off on the seventh hole, foreground, during the first round of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.  (Andrew Redington / Getty Images)

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England’s Paul Casey chips onto the eighth green during the first round of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.  (Peter Morrison/Associated Press)

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Bryson DeChambeau of the United States prepares to putt on the fourth green during the first round of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.  (Francois Nel / Getty Images)

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Players contend with the undulating, zigzagging seventh hole during the first round of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.  (Matt Dunham/Associated Press)

Erskine said Portrush is in line to play host to three Opens, subject to the R&A and the club being in agreement.

She has a no-nonsense style mixed with a wicked sense of humor and can cut a deal for a major championship one moment and raise a pint of Guinness in the clubhouse bar the next.

“I’m a position, not a person, remember that,” she said. “I’m the secretary of a club, I’m not a female. What’s this gender bit all about anyway? It’s a job. You’re there to do the job.”

Everyone around the place knows her as simply Wilma.

“I always hated my name,” she said. “I was supposed to be a William, after my dad. Wilma’s a bit of an unusual name. If I’d been a Jane, nobody would remember a Jane. But I was Wilma. The Flintstones. So it’s sort of a Wilma brand.”