Rory McIlroy has definitely whetted the appetite for what he may do at The Open Championship at Royal Portrush with his showing at the Genesis Scottish Open this past week.
Heading into the final round, it was hard to see anyone other than Rory McIlroy winning the Genesis Scottish Open for a second time at The Renaissance Club. He was tied for the lead with Chris Gotterup, and of course, it was the Northern Irishman who had won the event in 2023.
Ultimately, Gotterup produced a brilliant final round to secure the victory. McIlroy meanwhile, had to settle for being in a tie for second with Marco Penge.
It may have been a disappointing finish for the five-time major champion. However, given where his form has been since winning The Masters, it felt like a giant step in the right direction for McIlroy to finish second in the final event before The Open Championship.
What was ‘fascinating’ about Rory McIlroy at the Scottish Open ahead of the final major of the year
Obviously, McIlroy will be returning to Royal Portrush. He has unfinished business at the course after missing the cut back in 2019. It will also be only the third time that The Open has been played at the venue.
And it seems that Rex Hoggard has seen more than enough to believe that McIlroy will be in contention to lift the Claret Jug in the coming days as he discussed his performance and demeanour in Scotland on the Golf Channel Podcast.
“There was nothing wrong with Rory McIlroy that put him in the lull after The Masters, after achieving the Career Grand Slam that returning to the UK wasn’t going to fix. Before this week, he spent two weeks down in London moving into the family’s new home outside of Wentworth. Coming back here where he’s had so much success and he just loves playing links golf, and they take such good care of him, and then of course, looking ahead to next week, Portrush, and we all know what that means. It’s a home game for him, it means the world to him to try and win an Open Championship there,” he said.
“He was a different person and certainly a different player this week than what we’ve seen since The Masters. He has been up and down, he hasn’t quite looked himself. He hasn’t been as accommodating with the media, I think there’s probably a lot of reasons behind that. But coming back here, playing on links golf and looking ahead to Portrush, we know how much emotion that’s going to come with that, he was a different player this week. He was executing shots much better. I think the fascinating stat line when it comes to Rory is he did what he did this week largely without hitting his driver particularly well. For most of the week, he was giving strokes away to the field. It’s always fascinating to me when he somehow finds a way now to put himself in contention when that weapon – which is such a weapon for him – when it’s gone. He just finds different ways now, which I think bodes well going into next week.
“He was disappointed this afternoon when I spoke to him, he felt like he let a couple get away, especially on the greens. But certainly when you look ahead, and he was catching a flight just in a couple of minutes really to head over to Northern Ireland, I still would put him real close behind Scottie Scheffler based on what I saw this week.”
Rory McIlroy’s strokes gained statistics at the Scottish Open
Indeed, it was McIlroy’s driving which was the only part of his game where he lost ground to the field across the week in North Berwick.
He actually gained seven shots putting during the tournament, while he was also impressive with his approach play.
| Category | Strokes gained | Rory McIlroy’s field rank |
| Off the tee | -0.094 | 52nd |
| Approach | 3.935 | 20th |
| Around the green | 2.435 | 11th |
| Putting | 7.086 | 5th |
| Total | 13.362 | T2nd |
Given that the demands of links golf can be so different to what the large majority of PGA Tour players take on each week, it certainly looks good for McIlroy heading into the final major of the year.
The pressure will definitely be on. If he can get off to a faster start than six years ago, then there is reason to be extremely optimistic.
It would arguably be a very fitting way for McIlroy to round off what has been a surreal major championship season if he was to triumph at The Open.
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