Rory McIlroy confirms when he will arrive at Royal Portrush and play his first practice round before The Open

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Rory McIlroy narrowly missed out on the Scottish Open title to Chris Gotterup this weekend, and now his attention will turn to The Open Championship.

McIlroy and Gotterup played together in the final group on Sunday, and both started at 11 under par, so the Northern Irishman will likely be disappointed.

The American simply got the better of him at The Renaissance Club, but he can still take plenty of positives into The Open next week.

McIlroy has now confirmed what his immediate plans are to prepare for the final major championship of the season.

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Rory McIlroy reveals Open Championship plans

McIlroy’s biggest goal coming into the 2025 season was to finally win the Masters and complete the career Grand Slam.

We all know he achieved exactly that in a remarkable week at Augusta National earlier this year, so what’s left for him to chase?

Well, McIlroy has made it abundantly clear that he would absolutely love to win The Open in his home country.

That’s also clear to see from his pre-tournament plans. McIlroy told reporters after the Scottish Open: “No frustration, really. I’m really happy with where everything is.

“Looking forward to getting to Portrush tonight and getting out onto the golf course early tomorrow and just turning my attention to that.

“But I feel like I’ve gotten out of this week everything, really, that I wanted.”

This suggests that McIlroy will take to the golf course at Royal Portrush at least three times before play gets underway on Thursday morning.

Rory McIlroy says how he feels about his game after Scottish Open

McIlroy will be frustrated not to have won his second Scottish Open, especially because he was only up against a one-time PGA Tour winner (Gotterup).

However, the 36-year-old seems extremely pleased with the progress he has made in his golf swing after a tricky few months.

McIlroy was out of form before a T6 finish at the Travelers Championship three weeks ago, which he has now built upon at The Renaissance Club.

He will now head to Royal Portrush full of confidence that he can go one better at The Open.

“It’s been a great week,” he said. “I’m really happy with where my game is… the way I played over the weekend, the shots that I hit, how I controlled my ball flight.

“It has been a great week. Missing the trophy, that’s about it.”