Rory McIlroy already has everything he wanted from golf.
His dream was to be the best player in the game, which he fulfilled long ago by reaching No. 1 in the world nine times. The tallest mountain took 11 years to climb, and this was truly rarefied air when McIlroy won the Masters in April to complete the career Grand Slam.
So joyous was that moment for McIlroy that he figured anything else he achieved in his career would be gravy.
“That very well could be the highlight of my career,” McIlroy said of his Masters green jacket and all that came with it.
There very well could be one more — golf’s oldest trophy on McIlroy’s home soil. The 153rd edition of the British Open returns to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland on July 17-20. There might not be a better way for McIlroy to conclude a most unforgettable season.
Unlike the Masters at Augusta National, where he returned every April, chances to win a major on home soil don’t come along very often for McIlroy. Irish eyes were on McIlroy in 2019 at Royal Portrush, where he hit his opening tee shot out-of-bounds and saw his spirited rally to make the cut fall just short.
For McIlroy, this is no ordinary British Open.
“If venues in golf matter to you, it maybe puts a little bit more pressure on you,” he said.
From the emotional side of it, he thought about Novak Djokovic winning Olympic gold in tennis last year in what he knew would be his final chance. That was about timing. This is location, playing before the largest crowd to see golf on the Emerald Isle, celebrating the sixth and most recent winner of the career Grand Slam, and high hopes for their favorite son in golf.
“You think about it, and you can’t pretend that it’s not there,” McIlroy said. “But when you are on the golf 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 golf tournament.
“But yeah, it obviously is a little more,” he said. “It has a little more emphasis. There’s something extra there.”
For most everyone else, the emphasis is on the the last chance of the year to win a major. Scottie Scheffler, still the betting favorite as the No. 1 player in the world, goes after his second major this year and the third leg of the Grand Slam. Defending champion Xander Schauffele is still trying to catch up from a rib injury that kept him out for two months.
The optimism in April going into a full slate of majors has given way to a little more urgency in July knowing there will be nearly nine months before the next chance.
“It depends on how you played in the first three,” Justin Thomas said. “Someone like me who hasn’t played very well it’s like, ‘OK, I need to play well to make sure this year isn’t a complete dud.’ Maybe if you’re Scottie or Rory, you’d love to play well but they’ve won a major this year.’”
It’s very different for McIlroy.
