Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are the star attractions this week at the Amgen Irish Open, with both men continuing their preparations for the Ryder Cup later this month.
European Ryder Cup fans will be hoping to see a positive performance from Rory McIlroy this week. The 36-year-old had an underwhelming time during the FedEx Cup playoffs. He finished tied for 23rd at the Tour Championship.
Of course, McIlroy has only shown glimpses of his best form since winning The Masters. But the good news for Luke Donald is that the majority of those glimpses came at the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open Championship.
It does appear that McIlroy is much happier when playing in Europe right now. So the Amgen Irish Open and the BMW PGA Championship may represent the ideal way for him to prepare for the Ryder Cup.
Rory McIlroy names his favourite golf course in Ireland
Of course, The K Club previously hosted the 2006 Ryder Cup. It is also the venue where McIlroy won the Irish Open back in 2016. But it is another course in Ireland which McIlroy picked out as his favourite.
Speaking ahead of Thursday’s opening round, McIlroy suggested that the site of his superb Irish Open performance last year stands out.
“If I could play one course, it would probably be Royal County Down for me. I personally think it’s the best course on the entire island. I played Walker Cup there and played well last year and had a good chance. Again, we had a pretty good weather week last time at RCD, and it’s always nice when the weather is better,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s funny, growing up, it was on my doorstep, and I don’t think I appreciated how good all the courses are here. I think because I travelled around and played in boys tournaments and youth tournaments and going over to Rosses Point for the west and Baltray for the east, I took for granted how good the courses were.
“Then you travel elsewhere and you come back and play these courses, and we start to realize we’re pretty lucky with all the great golf we do have here.”
Shane Lowry overlooks Royal Portrush with his answer
It was the Irish Open which saw Shane Lowry really make his name as he won the event as an amateur back in 2009 at County Louth.
And of course, the biggest individual win of Lowry’s career came at the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
Lowry admitted that it was hard to look past Portrush, but opted for a different course when asked the same question.
“If I could play one course in Ireland for the rest of my life, that’s such a hard question,” he said. “We have so many great golf courses. Obviously I’m biased to Portrush. Even after The Open this year, I thought Portrush was unbelievable. I played Portmarnock yesterday in the nicest weather you could play it in. Probably Portmarnock, to be honest.”
As for this week, Lowry will hope that he can follow McIlroy’s lead and secure an Irish Open victory in County Kildare.
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