Photographing the 2026 Amgen Irish Open

Standing three feet from the sitting President of the United States wasn’t quite what I had pictured when preparing for a week photographing the 2026 Amgen Irish Open for The Irish Examiner. Yet there I was at Doonbeg, with Donald Trump speaking to the Irish media and White House press corps just feet away, while members of the Secret Service watched every move.

It was easily one of the most bizarre situations I have found myself in, as a photographer or otherwise. And there was still a final round of golf to cover.

Standing just a few feet away from U.S. President Donald Trump as he spoke to the media during Day 4 of the 2026 Amgen Irish Open at Trump International Hotel & Golf Links, Doonbeg. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.

I spent Monday to Sunday at the 2026 Amgen Irish Open, and while I have photographed numerous Irish Opens before, this one was unlike any other. The field alone was exceptional, with Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton among the names providing plenty to follow. With Doonbeg’s spectacular links and the Atlantic Ocean as the backdrop, there was already every reason to expect a memorable week behind the lens.

Then came the presidential visit.

On Saturday afternoon, Air Force One made an extraordinary flyover on its way from Shannon to Dublin. Trump arrived on the ground shortly afterwards aboard Marine One, landing beside the third tee.

The pace of what followed was remarkable. As the other members of the media and I made the short walk back towards the media centre near the clubhouse, the president was already in position at the 18th green, watching players finish their rounds.

That was as close as we would get to him that day. Sunday, however, would be a very different experience.

We had been told that Trump would accompany tournament leader Shane Lowry to the first tee and watch him tee off. The media assembled on an embankment behind the 18th grandstand, giving us a view of the president emerging from the hotel and making his way towards the tee.

After passing the assembled photographers, he joined Lowry, DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings and Taoiseach Micheál Martin. Between the anticipation around the final round and the presence of the Secret Service, there was a lot happening in a small space, and plenty to keep an eye on through the camera.

Then it became considerably more surreal.

Rory McIlroy tees off on the ninth hole during the 2026 Amgen Irish Open at Trump International Hotel & Golf Links, Doonbeg.

As Trump left the first tee to speak with the Irish media and the White House press corps, I found myself roughly three feet away. For around ten minutes, he spoke with the press while I photographed from a position I could scarcely have imagined at the start of the week (as seen in the cover image of this article).

I had photographed Trump before, at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage, but the security arrangements put in place by the Secret Service meant the closest I could get then was around 150 yards. This time, the distance was measured in feet.

I had also been close to Joe Biden during his visit a few years earlier, and photographed Bill Clinton at an event in Belfast. But for the sheer unexpectedness of finding myself in that position while covering a golf tournament, this trumped them all.

There was little time to dwell on it. Once Trump returned to the hotel, the priority was getting pictures to The Irish Examiner picture desk. Whatever was happening in front of the camera, the photographs still had to be selected and sent.

Then came a brisk walk out onto the course. Lowry had a tournament to win, and there was another story demanding my full attention.

Following him through that final round brought the focus firmly back to the golf. On one of Ireland’s most beautiful links courses, he produced a performance that was a privilege to follow from behind the lens.

The reception as he walked up the 18th fairway was rapturous. After everything else the week had brought, it was the golf that delivered the photograph I had been hoping for: Lowry’s birdie putt, followed by that look towards the skies in celebration.

The perfect money shot.

There was still the trophy presentation to come, with Trump presenting the trophy to Lowry. It offered another extended opportunity to photograph the US president, this time in a setting far removed from a conventional presidential press appearance. Between the backdrop, the occasion and the amount of time available, it was the sort of opportunity that would make plenty of other press photographers envious.

Looking back, it is difficult to separate the scale of the occasion from the sheer strangeness of parts of it. A week that began with the prospect of photographing an outstanding field at Doonbeg ended up taking in Air Force One, Marine One, a close encounter with the US president and a memorable Shane Lowry victory.

Through it all, the job remained the same: keep watching, keep photographing and make sure the pictures reached the Examiner’s picture desk. Only afterwards was there time to take stock of everything that had happened.

What a week. One that will live long in the memory for everyone who was there.