While he may not be the world number one, there is surely no question that Rory McIlroy is the biggest superstar teeing it up at Royal Portrush in The Open Championship later this week.
Few would have ever believed what 2025 would look like for Rory McIlroy heading into the final major of the year. He won The Masters – for his third victory of the season – to complete the Career Grand Slam, before enduring a run where it appeared that golf was the last thing he wanted to be doing.
Two impressive results appear to hint that McIlroy is starting to find his groove again. And the timing could hardly be better, with The Open Championship just around the corner.
McIlroy missed the cut the last time The Open was held at the Northern Irish course, back in 2019. At the time, it appeared that the size of the occasion got to him.
Rory McIlroy explains what always surprises him when he plays Royal Portrush
That will be in the back of McIlroy’s mind heading into the opening round on Thursday. But having cleared the mental hurdle of finally winning The Masters, he can take plenty of confidence into The Open.
Nevertheless, it seems that there are still aspects of the course which caught him off-guard as he spoke about his first practice round this week.
“So yeah, I think the two things I noticed about this golf course today when I played is I have a real appreciation for how well bunkered it is off the tee. It’s like, okay, well, I can hit a 2-iron off the tee, but that brings this bunker into play. But then if I hit driver, it’ll bring this bunker — so you have to take on the shot. You have to say, okay, I’m going to commit to hitting this shot and I just know I’m going to have to avoid — like some courses that we go to in the Open rota you can just take the bunkers out of play. You can lay up short of them or go beyond them. Here there’s always one bunker or another bunker in play, so I think off the tee it provides a very, very good test,” he said.
“Then I’m always surprised when I come here how much movement there is on the greens. The greens are quite slopey here for a links golf course. You compare that to even Renaissance last week where I had a lot of putts that were like right edge, left edge, not a lot of putts that were really outside the hole that much. You get here, you’re having to play two feet of break, or it’s a little bit different than maybe what you face on some other links golf courses.
“So they’re the two things that I sort of noticed today.”
How Rory McIlroy reacted to missing the cut at the previous Open Championship at Royal Portrush
McIlroy’s hopes of winning The Open Championship for a second time in 2019 were dashed after a nightmare opening round which began with an eight on the first hole.
Remarkably, he was one of the players who set a new course record by posting a 65 on Friday. Nevertheless, it was not enough for him to make the weekend. And afterwards, he spoke about the emotional turmoil he had experienced over those two days.
“There’s a lot of them. Disappointed not to be here for the weekend. Unbelievably proud of how I handled myself today coming back after what was a very challenging day yesterday. And just full of gratitude towards every single one of the people that followed me to the very end and was willing me on,” he said.
“As much as I came here at the start of the week saying I wanted to do it for me, you know, by the end of the round there today I was doing it just as much for them as I was for me. I wanted to be here for the weekend. Selfishly I wanted to feel that support for two more days.
“But today was probably one of the most fun rounds of golf I’ve ever played. It’s strange saying that standing here and having had a bit of success and won this championship before, and just to be battling to make the cut.
“To play in front of those crowds today and to feel that momentum and really dig in, it’s going to be a tough one to get over. I’ll probably rue the finish yesterday, dropping five shots on the last three holes.
“But I felt like I gave a good account of myself today and I can leave here with my head held high.”
It remains to be seen if McIlroy can put himself in the mix for a second Claret Jug. If he does manage it, it would arguably be the perfect bookend to what has been a remarkable major championship season for him.
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