‘It would mean a little bit more': Rory McIlroy returns to Europe with eyes on Open tilt
McIlroy's return to Europe for the Scottish Open is notable in itself as his first playing appearance on this continent since claiming the career grand slam, but next week and Royal Portrush looms large.
McIlroy has revelled in the appearance of his homeland in the positive sporting spotlight after decades dominated by The Troubles. 'I think it's a great representation of how far Northern Ireland has come in the last 30 or 40 years,' said McIlroy.
'In the 70s, the 80s and the 90s, no one would have dreamed of hosting an Open Championship in Northern Ireland. So it's a testament to the people of Northern Ireland for how far we as a country have come.
'I think my generation couldn't care less about what had happened in the past. Everyone's just looking forward. My mum and dad both grew up in the 60s and the 70s and Northern Ireland was a very different place. I feel very fortunate that I'm of the generation that I am that I didn't have to deal with any of that or very little of it.
'It has come a long, long way. People really appreciate when a huge sporting event that the world's eyes are on that week happens. Everyone there really appreciates that and excited to show the country in the best light possible.'
McIlroy will have a particular score to settle when he returns to the Antrim coast. In 2019, during the Open's first Portrush staging since 1951, a disastrous first round contributed towards him missing the cut. McIlroy rallied in round two with the backing of vociferous support but fell short. The 36-year-old will know there will not be many more Portrush Open opportunities for him.
'If venues matter to you, it maybe puts a little bit more pressure on you,' McIlroy explained. 'I would love to win an Open at Portrush, absolutely. I would love to win an Open at St Andrews. I would love to win a US Open at Pebble Beach. There are venues in the game that just mean a little bit more. Having Portrush from home and the experience I had there last time … the Friday was amazing, the Thursday, not too much.
'It's a little like when [Novak] Djokovic won the Olympics last year: he knew that was going to be his final chance, and you saw the emotion and you saw how much it meant to him. You think about it, and you can't pretend that it's not there. But when you are on the course, you just have to go out there and play as if you're not playing at home and just play as if it's another tournament. It obviously is a little more emphasis. There's something extra there, just like there is at an Open at St Andrews or a US Open at Pebble Beach, for example.'
First, Scotland. A stellar field at the Renaissance also includes the world No 1, Scottie Scheffler. Eight of the world's top 10 will tee up in East Lothian. McIlroy clearly relishes his trips back from his adopted home of Florida.
'The one thing I would say about the last couple of weeks is I felt like I could detach a little bit more and sort of hide,' McIlroy said. 'Sometimes you need that to completely get away. I feel like this world of golf can become all encompassing if you let it.
'There's a detachment from the sort of week-in, week-out grind when you get back over here, when you play PGA Tour golf for that sort of first 25, 30 weeks of the year. It's been lovely to get back and see some familiar faces.'
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The 42
an hour ago
- The 42
Shane Lowry learning to embrace the struggle that paved the way to his first Open triumph
IT'S AN IMAGE easily summoned: Shane Lowry, Claret Jug in hand, eyes shimmering behind a curtain of rain. And like any photograph of a great triumph, its struggles have been airbrushed out. A year earlier, Lowry was weeping very different tears. He sat alone in his car after the first round of the Open Championship in Carnoustie, an opening-round 74 leaving him looking over his shoulder rather than up the leaderboard. It would be a fifth missed cut in a year that lacked a single top-10 along with an invite to the Masters. Lowry split from his caddie Dermot Byrne that same day: if a rupture was inevitable then its timing was indecently hasty. His coach Neil Manchip took the bag for Friday's round, after which he went home early and put an SOS call into his brother Alan for some temp work. 'Golf wasn't my friend at the time', reflected Lowry a year later. 'It was something that became very stressful and it was weighing on me and I just didn't like doing it.' The awful thing about golf is its volatility but that can be the best thing about it too. A year later, Lowry stepped off the 17th tee of the third round of the Open Championship and turned to his new caddie, Bo Martin and said, 'Bo, whatever happens, we have to enjoy this next 20 minutes or so.' Lowry was playing like he was blessed with some kind of divine fire. He had birdied seven of his last 14 holes to roar clear of the pack, and bring the crowds at Royal Portrush into a kind of fervour. He would birdie 17 too on his way to a third-round 63 that meant he had effectively won the Open. The complication was that he had to go out on Sunday to not lose it. He hardly slept, but woke up to hang grimly on through the absurd rain. When his tee shot on 17 found the fairway, he looked to the sky and puffed out his cheeks: he would be the Open champion. The 18th fairway thus became a giddy procession, as Lowry slowed his pace to find familiar faces around him while thousands more charged behind him, waving tricolours and chanting ole, ole. Advertisement 'What I did was very special', says Lowry today, 'and to walk down the 18th hole with a six-shot lead, I'm probably never going to do that again, so I'm not going to try and replicate that this week.' So, to this week. 'I feel like I'm a better golfer than I was in 2019″, he says. 'I am a better golfer than I was in 2019. But it doesn't mean I'm going to go out and win by seven this year instead of six. It's just golf, that's the way it is. As a golfer, you always have to look at it as the glass is always half-full. You can't look at it any other way.' Along with becoming one of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour, Lowry has breached the top-10 in the world rankings, and these facts, along with the status bestowed by his Claret Jug, have made him a headline name in the US. But while his glass is half-full, he has a few sideline bristles and frustrations all the same. The more attention Lowry has garnered in America, the more he chafes as that coverage's more rudimentary aspects; impressions of him that are always at their most Carroll's Gift Stores whenever he's playing in Ireland. The very first question of his press conference at Portrush today, for instance, asked him to reflect on how he celebrated his 2019 triumph. Lowry flicked a look at the row of Irish journalists in front of him and said, 'Interesting first question, isn't it? Here to talk about golf and all anyone wants to talk about is drinking.' Shortly after, a journalist with whom Lowry has a good relationship asked him if he was fed up of this impression of him as a pint-swilling craic merchant. (Note: not a verbatim edition of the question.) 'Look, I'll let people believe what they want to believe and I kind of do my own thing', replied Lowry. 'The people close to me know what I'm like.' Of greater concern is the finishing ability he showcased here six years ago has deserted him. Exclude the team event Zurich Classic and his sole tournament win since the Open came at Wentworth in 2022, while he has recently been stuck in a rut at the majors. Having seen opportunities to win at last year's PGA and Open slide by, he turned a promising Masters Saturday position into a miserable Sunday 81, and he then missed the cut at both the PGA and the US Open. At Quail Hollow he was heard slamming the turf yelling 'F**k this place', while at Oakmont he bogeyed a par-five and walked off the green muttering 'F**k this place, f**k this place.' Portrush should at least stall that trend. 'As my own mental game regards that, I've had a couple of episodes this year, but golf is hard at this level', says Lowry, slightly abashed, when asked a general question about his mental game. 'Since 2019, apart from the Covid year, I feel like my golf has been okay', he continues, 'It's been very consistent. Obviously I've not won as much as I would have liked, but it's hard to win out there. You just need to keep going with day-to-day, week-to-week, and give yourself the best chances.' There has been another caddie change too, and Lowry is now working with Darren Reynolds, with Bo Martin now carrying Min Woo Lee's bag. In a recent video with the R&A reliving that glorious walk down 18 in 2019, he revealed he told Martin that he loved him, before adding with a laugh that he's not so sure he will loves him now. During the course of his press conference, Lowry revealed the depths of that struggle to his 2019 triumph, while also giving the impression of a golfer learning to embrace that struggle. 'Sometimes when everything is going really well, I get complacent. Then all of a sudden, before I know it, I'm like three-over through five and start to have a panic because I feel like I'm going to do well. 'I feel like when things are not going well I think is when I'm at my best, or when I don't feel like things are going well, like go back to 2019 here, I had a meltdown on the Wednesday because I thought I wasn't going to go out and play well, but then that focuses me in a little bit more. 'If I can keep my complacency away and my expectation down, that's when I'm at my best.' Rather than play the Scottish Open last week, Lowry has spent the last fortnight touring Ireland, playing all of Portmarnock, The Island, Baltray, Waterville, Hogs Head and Adare Manor beneath the blazing summer sun. This is anyone's idea of a worthwhile break, though that creates one small problem. Where's the struggle? 'I've had a great week. I've had a great week of practice. I just need to play shit for the next couple of days, and I'll be all right.'
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Rory McIlroy more at peace with his mind and his game on return to Royal Portrush
It's become de rigeur to parse every syllable, every tilt of the head and shrug of the shoulders, when Rory McIlroy holds court. Somehow, this hasn't changed much, if at all, since he completed his career Grand Slam at Augusta in April. The 36-year-old has struggled to centre himself since achieving that lifetime ambition at the Masters and, of course, his decision to swerve more than a few media duties since sent the association of amateur psychologists and the body language industry into tailspins. We'll keep the pop psychology short here. McIlroy exuded a sense of peace on Monday afternoon. He chuckled a few times and folded his arms loosely as he gave his usual erudite and considered takes on the world of Rory and the universe of opinions and oceans of fascination that whirl about it. The pressure is off, one questioner said breezily. 'Is it?' McIlroy laughed. 'Is the pressure off?' This ease was already apparent on the course earlier in the morning when, with golf clubs around the province providing different stewards on every hole, he delighted in seeing so many familiar faces on what is a rare competitive outing for him in these parts. Former Ireland and British and Irish Lions legend Mike Gibson was among the other blasts from the past to sidle up and spend a brief moment with a man whose only step back from it all came when he was asked about being Ulster's best ever sportsperson. So much of Monday's media spooled back on the past. How could it not? He was asked again about setting the course record 61 for these Dunluce Links as a 16-year old back in 2006 and, inevitably, of his memories from 2019 when he hit THAT tee shot, an opening quadruple bogey, carded a 79 and ultimately missed the cut. He had absorbed this brand of Ulster love before, at Irish Opens here in Portrush, in Royal County Down and at Portstewart, but this was worship inflated again by a fervent expectation and a yearning that ultimately worked against him. That Thursday exists as a blur in his mind now but he does remember the roar of the crowd when he hit a six-iron to the 14th green on day two when chasing a score that might curb the worst of his opening 79 and give him a shot at the weekend. All that is informing his approach this week. 'I guess it's just something I didn't mentally prepare for that day or that week, but I learned pretty quickly that one of my challenges, especially in a week like this, is controlling myself and controlling that battle. 'I talked about it at the Masters on that last day. The battle on that last day wasn't with Augusta National. It wasn't with Bryson [DeChambeau]. It wasn't with Justin Rose. The battle that day was with myself. 'Whenever you get put in environments like that, that's basically what it is. It's you trying to overcome your mind and trying to give yourself that clarity to give yourself the best chance to put together a really good performance.' There's no doubt but that McIlroy put far too much pressure on himself six years ago. Shane Lowry shared here how his friend had declared that 2019 Open to be the biggest tournament he would likely ever play in the days beforehand. But the past can be overplayed. McIlroy, when asked to go back over that 61 in '06, framed it in the context of how TrackMans weren't even a thing back then, and added that the very course itself has been altered significantly since. Time moves on, so has he. Ultimately, this is all academic, conjecture and fluff designed to keep us occupied before the first tee on Thursday. More integral to the question as to what McIlroy might do at an Open here second time around is his current form. Finishing joint second at the Genesis Scottish Open reaffirmed a return to something approaching his best when paired with his previous effort in ending in a tie for sixth at the Travelers Championship in late June. And his readiness was obvious when landing in Portrush at 1am on Monday so that he could take to the course at 7am on the back of just four hours sleep in and get some prep in before the circus that is The Open got into full swing. 'I'm certainly encouraged by how I've played the last two starts, especially last week in Scotland. I think the two weeks off after the Travelers just to reset, to get over here, a bit of a change of scenery, has been really nice. 'When I was looking at the calendar for 2025, this was the tournament that was probably, I don't know, circled, even more so than the Masters for different reasons. It's lovely to be coming in here already with a major and everything else that's happened this year. 'I'm excited with where my game is. I felt like I showed some really good signs last week. I feel like I'm in a good spot and had… Not that last week was a pure preparation week, but I definitely feel like it put me in a good spot heading into here.'
Irish Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
LIV Golf star who made €4m after defying Rory McIlroy speaks out before The Open
Belfast-born golf star Tom McKibbin has warmed up for The Open at Royal Portrush with a steady performance in the recent LIV Golf event. At 22, McKibbin isn't just known for his prowess on the green. He also has a name for himself for snubbing Rory McIlroy's advice over moving to the controversial golf league, choosing instead to pocket a hefty sum by joining LIV in January this year, despite having a PGA Tour card dangled before him. McKibbin has performed admirably, if not entirely to his liking, in the ranks at the so-called rebel league. Yet he has earned €4million in prize money since making the jump to the breakaway series, and he's now thrilled at the chance to play a tournament on home soil again, with The Open teeing off on July 17. "I've played here however many hundreds of times, it's somewhere I've come up and played since I was 10-years-old," he told the Belfast Telegraph ahead of the major. "To play a major championship on this golf course is going to be pretty special, the biggest event I'll ever have played in under that pressure and atmosphere. "It's something not many people get to say, that they've played an Open in their home country. To play it here on one of the best courses in the world, it's going to be pretty special. To be here and be playing will be something that I'll probably remember forever." McKibbin has placed outside the top 40 at the US Open and Open in 2024, while he struggled at the PGA Championship this year. His LIV performances have been somewhat inconsistent too, reports Belfast Live. He kicked off the year in style however, securing three top-10 finishes soon after joining LIV Golf, hinting that he might have struck gold. His form then dipped as he recorded finishes outside the top-20 in four of his last five tournaments. Nevertheless, the tide appears to be turning, marked by clinching a T4 spot at the recent Andalucia event with LIV Golf, where he also snagged a cool €713,000 ($833,000). McKibbin acknowledges the rocky road since switching to LIV: "Yeah, it's been a little bit up and down. I played pretty nice at the start of the year up until Miami and then sort of since then I haven't really scored too well. I struggled a little bit getting off to a good start, and I've played a little bit nicer as the weeks went on. "The game feels quite nice and it feels like it's been quite similar throughout the year. I just haven't really scored as good the last couple of events. "I've had a lot of fun this year. It's been a whole different experience for me, something that I've enjoyed a lot. Really looking forward to these last five events of the year and seeing what can happen there." Despite concerns that LIV may not adequately prepare players for the PGA's most prominent events, McKibbin thinks that competing alongside the league's powerful players has actually aided him in major tournaments. As part of a team featuring two-time major winner Jon Rahm, McKibbin has also shared the course with notable players such as Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, and Brooks Koepka. "I've been very, very lucky to play with a lot of very good players so far this year and I've definitely seen my golf game improve, playing tough courses like Doral. So it's definitely prepared me a little bit better. Yeah, I'm very happy," he said. "I've obviously been playing with Jon [Rahm] in a lot of practice rounds, and then on tournament days as well, so to see how they play the game and how they take on golf courses, it's been very eye-opening." McIlroy once advised McKibbin against the move, with the Masters champion going on record to voice his displeasure at LIV Golf. He has since softened his position on the breakaway circuit. "If I were in his position, I wouldn't make that decision," McIlroy said after McKibbin announced his decision to sign for LIV. However, McKibbin has no regrets about the switch to the breakaway Saudi circuit, where he has now earned a pretty penny in a short amount of time.
