Scottish T2 a huge boost for Rory before The Open
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
2025 British Open preview: Will Rory McIlroy shine in his native Northern Ireland?
The British Open — or Open Championship, if you're fancy — tees off Thursday morning at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. This marks the second time this century that Portrush has hosted an Open; the 2019 version saw Shane Lowry winning his emotional first (and, to date, only) major. Royal Portrush will play to a par 71 over 7,383 yards, offering stunning views of the Atlantic along magnificent cliffsides and challenging dunes. The classics of every Open — bunkers and winds — will bedevil players on every hole. The player that can survive the physical, mental, meteorological and spiritual challenges this week will take home the Claret Jug and a week of memories to last a lifetime. Advertisement Key Storylines Can Scottie Scheffler break through across the pond? For all his success in America, Scottie Scheffler hasn't really seized the moment in British Opens. Odd as it seems, he's only played in four Opens, with two top-8 finishes. Scheffler can compete anywhere on the planet, but it's still an open question whether he can find winning form on links courses. At least we know that if he doesn't win, he'll be OK with it all . Will Rory McIlroy show up this time at Royal Portrush? You're going to hear this an awful lot until Friday afternoon — the last time McIlroy played in the Open at Royal Portrush, where he recorded a 61 as a youth, he hit his very first tee shot out of bounds, and missed the cut despite a furious Friday charge. Since then, he's only won one major, but it was a big one. You probably heard about it. He's struggled to return to championship-level form since then. You probably heard about that too. But a return to familiar ground could be just what he needs. Advertisement Does Bryson DeChambeau's game translate to links golf? LIV Golf's most visible star is an American phenomenon, but can he become a worldwide one? That's very much yet to be determined. In seven Opens, he's missed three cuts, including last year and at Portrush in 2019, and has just one top-10 finish to his credit. DeChambeau's power-based game doesn't easily translate to Open rota courses, but you can bet he's running the numbers to figure out how to conquer Europe as well as America. What are the Ryder Cup ramifications? We're about two months out from the Ryder Cup, which is quickly becoming golf's non-major marquee event. With the 2025 edition taking place in Bethpage, N.Y., this will be the last chance for European crowds to get a crack at Scheffler, Morikawa et. al., and the last opportunity to cheer on McIlroy, Rahm and the rest of the European squad in person. This also will be the last significant chance for players to make a case to join the team; LIV players like Patrick Reed and Brooks Koepka could use some strong play in the Open to catch captain Keegan Bradley's eye. Advertisement How are we going to survive without majors for eight months? After this week, we enter golf's long dry spell, eight months until the Masters. Sure, we have the Tour Championship and the Ryder Cup, but there's nothing quite like the career-defining tournaments that are the majors. Enjoy these next four days; we'll have to make 'em last. The last time the British Open came to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, Rory McIlroy missed the cut. Will he claim his second major of the year this time around? (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) Expert Picks Jay Busbee: Jon Rahm. Last year was a season to forget for Rahm, but he seems to have rediscovered his game this year, with two top-10 finishes and a T14 at the majors. Closing remains a question with this iteration of Rahm, but he's got enough game off the tee to put himself in positions that most of the rest of the field won't be able to match as consistently. It's all right there for Rahm, the best bet in a very crowded field of contenders. Advertisement Jay Hart: Tommy Fleetwood. It's got to happen eventually for Fleetwood, right? He can't be a bridesmaid forever, not when he puts himself in contention to win as often as he does — 8 top-10 finishes at majors, including a runner-up at The Open a few years back. Somewhere even Lee Westwood — he of a dozen top 5s at majors but zero victories to show for it — is hoping his fellow countryman can win one for England. Ryan Young: Rory McIlroy. No need to stray from the easy pick this week. McIlroy is back at home, handling everything much better than the last time around, and he's almost always in position at the British Open. He's got five top-10 finishes there in his last eight starts. He is coming off a runner-up finish at the Scottish Open last week, too, and seems to be back after his post-Masters 'slump.' If there was ever a time for McIlroy to win a major in Northern Ireland, it's now. How to Watch NBC gets the nod this week, meaning that you'll be spending a lot of early-morning time on either Peacock or the NBC family of channels. The tournament begins daily at 1:30 a.m. Eastern time, and Peacock will be on from the jump. The first two days, USA Network will begin at 4 a.m. ET and run all the way through 3:30 p.m. Over the weekend, USA gets the start, and then NBC takes over at 7 a.m. ET through each day's end (usually around early to midafternoon). Get that coffee ready, this will be an early one … but it's still the best way to wake up each year.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Rory McIlroy accepts AGW Golfer of the Year award, says he's embracing adulation back home
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Rory McIlroy attended the Association of Golf Writers dinner on Tuesday evening and was decked out in green — Masters green. McIlroy, who won the Masters in April, wore his Green Jacket to the festivities and received a standing ovation upon his arrival. He attended the dinner to pick up his award as Golfer of the Year for 2024. McIlroy grew up 60 miles north of Portrush in Holywood. The World No. 2 completed the career Grand Slam in April, beating Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff for his fifth major and first since the 2014 PGA Championship. In doing so, McIlroy became the sixth golfer to win the career Grand Slam. McIlroy missed the cut at the Open at Portrush in 2019 and said he intended to take a different approach to being the home favorite this time. 'I think it's better for everyone if I embrace it. I think it's better for me because I can – it's nice to be able to accept adulation, even though I struggle with it at times – but it's also nice for the person that is seeing you for the first time in a few years,' he said. 'It just makes for a better interaction and not trying to hide away from it. "I think it's more of an embrace everything that's going to come my way this week and not try to shy away from it or hide away from it, and I think that'll make for a better experience for everyone involved.' Showing up to the AGW dinner in his Masters jacket definitely qualifies as embracing the week.
an hour ago
Trump's Turnberry faces logistical hurdles for British Open return
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland -- President Donald Trump is not getting a British Open to the Turnberry course he owns in the near future, an issue the R&A's new chief executive said Wednesday was more about transportation than politics. Turnberry is regarded as the most beautiful of the links on the Open rotation, set along the Ayrshire coast in Scotland across from the Ailsa Craig. It last hosted the Open in 2009, before Trump bought the resort. Mark Darbon, who took over at the R&A this year from Martin Slumbers, said Turnberry had not been taken off the list of potential British Open sites, but transportation and other issues had to be addressed. 'I think we've been extremely clear on our position in respect of Turnberry. We love the golf course but we've got some big logistical challenges there,' he said. 'You see the scale of their setup here and we've got some work to do on the road, rail and accommodation infrastructure around Turnberry.' Darbon said the R&A met with Eric Trump and other leaders of Trump Golf a few months ago and the talks had been constructive. 'I think they understand clearly where we're coming from. We talked through some of the challenges that we have so we've got a good dialogue with them,' he said. Slumbers had previously said the R&A would not be going to Turnberry until it was comfortable the topic would be about golf and not the owner. Turnberry has only hosted the British Open four times, first in 1977 with the famous 'Duel in the Sun' when Tom Watson beat Jack Nicklaus. But the Open is getting bigger, and the roads are limited getting to Turnberry. There has been speculation Trump, whose golf courses have never hosted a men's major, might ask the British government to intercede in getting the Open back to Turnberry. 'We have an ongoing dialogue with the UK government given that we're a major event that creates significant value into the UK economy,' Darbon said. "We've spoken to them specifically about Turnberry and I think they've made it clear that the decision around where we take our championship rests with us. 'I would find it difficult to predict whether there will be any discussion on The Open if the President is making a visit here.' Turnberry is not the only Scottish links being ignored by the R&A. Muirfield, located along the Firth of Forth east of Edinburgh, is reputed to be the purest of links courses. Its first Open was in 1892, and there have been 15 others, most recently in 2013 won by Phil Mickelson. Only St. Andrews has hosted more Opens than Muirfield. But it has not been back there since 2013 as the R&A has been geared toward taking golf's oldest championship to courses that can hold big crowds. It is expected 278,000 spectators will be at Royal Portrush this week, the second-largest behind St. Andrews. The last Open at Muirfield had 142,000 spectators. The Open will be at Royal Birkdale next year, and then St. Andrews in 2027. The site for 2028 has not been announced. Muirfield has never gone more than 11 years — except for interruptions from World War I and World War II — between Opens. 'We love the golf course at Muirfield. We're in a discussion with the venue right now,' Darbon said. "There's some things that we need to evolve at Muirfield — the practice ground in particular is a challenge for us with a modern Open and there's some work we need to do with the venue to facilitate some of the infrastructure that we require. 'But it's a good dialogue and we'd love to be back there in the future.'
