He had a pivotal overseer’s role in the organisation, running – and overwhelming economic triumph – of two Open Championships at Royal Portrush over the last six years.
But it’s going to be an altogether different golf focus from now on for John McGrillen, who departs this week as chief executive of Tourism NI.
“I haven’t played in a while, but I really want to get my 21-handicap down a bit,” he says.
That he ‘hasn’t played in a while’ wasn’t of his own volition.
For on Easter Sunday, while on Spa golf course with friends, John took chest pains and a wave of nausea on the first hole, yet proceeded to complete a full round.
“I could easily have ignored it, but cardiovascular disorders are in my family genes,” he says (his father Paddy had died of a heart attack at just 48, while his mother May had a triple bypass on her 75th birthday and is still going strong at a sprightly 94).
The Open at Royal Portrush broke every record this year, attracting 278,000 golf fans and bringing an estimated economic and media benefit of more than £210 million (Ryan McAleer)
The next day John went to the Ulster Hospital to get checked out, and was sent to Lagan Valley Hospital’s cardiac unit and then to the Royal Victoria Hospital.
The upshot was that he needed life-saving open-heart surgery, and spend five full weeks in hospitals in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.
“I’ve surprised myself how chilled I was throughout the whole process, and I’m now in the final stages of a full rehab and recovery programme,” adds John, who was fit and able to be in Portrush earlier this month to see Scottie Scheffler do what Shane Lowry did in 2019 and lift the Claret Jug on Northern Ireland soil.
“Twelve weeks on, I feel great, very much back to normal, and I can’t wait to get playing golf again,” he says.
This week John (63) formally steps down from his Tourism NI duties after 10 years, the culmination of a 30-plus years career in the public sector in a number of high-profile leadership roles, including as chief executive of Down District Council and later as director of development at Belfast City Council.
“It’s actually my second attempt at getting out,” he recounts.
“My original plan was to step down after the 2019 Open, but the organisation needed a new chair, so I stayed on, supposedly temporarily, to ease the integration process.
“Then came Covid in 2020; then we’d no Stormont government for two years; then Ellvena Graham was appointed chair, and it crept up on me that the 2025 Open was just a year away, so that’s how my first pending departure all became so elongated.
“But this time it’s for real, although I’m absolutely not retiring, just taking a break and then hopefully picking up a few bits and pieces.”
Justin Bieber pictured at the MTV Awards in Belfast in 2011
Reflecting on his decade at the helm of Tourism NI and wider career, he could be forgiven for citing the two record-breaking Opens as the zenith.
But no, for while at Belfast Council he was responsible for overseeing the development of the ICC at the Waterfront Hall and for a number of high-profile events including the MTV Europe Music Awards and Giro d’Italia.
“For me, the MTV Awards in 2011 was the watershed moment. This place was in the international spotlight for all the right reasons.
“People had to pinch themselves. I remember standing in the Merchant Hotel and Justin Bieber strolled past. Talk about an unreal Belfast moment!”
While McGrillen plans to take to the golf course to trim that handicap, he admits he’ll keep a weather eye on the further evolution of golf as an economic driver for Northern Ireland.
“Make no mistake, The Open is coming back soon. It broke every record this year, with 278,000 golf fans descending on the North Coast over the week, and pictures being beamed to 100 million viewers in 190 countries.
Outgoing Tourism NI chief executive John McGrillen with Ellvena Graham, who was reappointed earlier this year for a second three-year term as chair of the organisation
“We estimated that the economic and media benefit from hosting the event will be around £210 million, but I expect that figure to be much higher.
“The opportunities and impact associated with hosting such a global sporting event cannot be underestimated.
“Also, the R&A loves it here. It knows we could sell the event four times over. Its chief executive Mark Darbon doesn’t need to be told of the resounding success of the event.
“Growing golf tourism was an integral part of Tourism NI’s strategy to increase the value of the local sector to £2 billion a year by 2035 from its current level of £1.1 billion. We’re looking to almost double that number over that period of time,” he added.
He describes Tourism NI as “a truly wonderful organisation driven by exceptional, hard-working people determined to make a positive impact on this place we all call home”, and believes the 10 year vision and action plan for tourism launched earlier this year is a fantastic springboard which will steer the sector through the next decade.
Laura McCorry will succeed John McGrillen as the next chief executive of Tourism NI
“But now is the right time for me to step aside, take my wife on the 25th wedding anniversary holiday to Florence which we unfortunately missed out on while I was hospitalised, and play a bit more golf,” John says.
He will be succeeded as CEO on Friday by Laura McCorry, until now head of Hillsborough Castle and Gardens.
She becomes the first woman appointed to lead the north’s tourism development agency since its inception in 1948.
