15-07-2025
Tom McKibbin leading next generation of Irish hopes in golden Open era
Food for thought. If there is no Irish winner at this year's Open Championship it will cement the longest stretch without one since Padraig Harrington ended the 60-year drought stretching back to Fred Daly at Carnoustie in 2007.
Mad, right?
Okay, so a non-Irish Champion golfer this week would stretch the gap back to Shane Lowry's 2019 success on this very patch of land to just six years rather than 60. It's still the sort of stat that speaks for the ridiculous run of success this island has had at the majors.
And for the job involved in extending it.
Men from this island have won one of the four majors eleven times going back to Harrington's historic breakthrough 18 years ago. His second Open, at Royal Birkdale a year later, was followed in 2011 by Darren Clarke's success at Royal St George.
Rory McIlroy followed suit with his two-stroke victory at Royal Liverpool in 2014 before Lowry had his day in the sun and the rain and the storms on the Dunluce Links here in 2019 when the Championship returned to Northern Ireland for the first time since 1951.
So, what now?
Harrington, Clarke and Graeme McDowell's days of being major contenders are behind them, unless one of them can channel Tom Watson's herculean hurrah at Turnberry in 2009, or redemptive Tiger Woods at the Masters a decade later.
McIlroy and Lowry still have plenty of good years in them, but the problem with all golden ages is that they do have a finite lifespan. This too will end, but the hope is that Tom McKibbin can lead the way for the next generation. Could he, whisper it, win this week?
'I don't know,' he said.
That's fair enough. McKibbin is still just 22 years of age but his potential was franked by winning the Porsche European Open in 2023 and an Italian Open playoff loss to Marcel Siem last year. Then he accepted a lucrative lure to throw his lot in with LIV.
Judging the form of the 19 players from the breakaway tour isn't an exact science given the questionable competitiveness of their gambit but the Northern Irishman has posted a fifth and a fourth on successive weeks in Dallas and Valderrama before returning home.
Jon Rahm, his LIV teammate, expressed a 'jealousy' for the sense of calm that McKibbin brings to the course and to his game. The Spaniard made similar noises about his envy for the younger man's smooth swing.
The switch to LIV created a minor storm at the time.
Rory McIlroy had advised him against it in the wake of having secured a PGA Tour card back in November while his exposure to majors this year prior to The Open has been limited to his appearance at the US PGA at Quail Hollow.
That was just his third time at one of the 'Big Four' and his record is solid but not spectacular. His best to date is a tie for 44th and his low a joint 66th. Though tied for 50th at the PGA, he played well enough to creep into the top 20.
Now would be a good time to make a bigger splash.
He was at a junior amateur tournament in Ohio six years ago when The Open returned to Royal Portrush and Northern Ireland for the first time since 1951. From Newtownabbey, he is a club member here and used to play these links a bit in winter when closer courses were shut.
Time on this course has been more limited lately. He has only played maybe half-a-dozen times now off the championship tees. His one competitive experience here is the British Boys Amateur back in 2018. More reason again to be pumped for this.
It's already been a week of note.
Tuesday had him playing the course with Darren Clarke, who he has partnered around the place before, and Rory McIlroy: three Northern Ireland pros, two of them legends and former Open winners. How he'd love to cement his membership of that second club.
'Yeah, it was great. We did it last year in Troon [at the 2024 Open], and to be able to do it again this year here at Portrush was pretty special. And to get out there nice and early, get 18 holes in, sort of pick their brains a little bit.
'I came up a couple weeks ago and played with Darren a few times, so getting to play with him a little bit more has been nice. It was great, the crowds were amazing. They came out and supported us the whole way around.'
Imagine the swell if one of them threatens come Sunday.
