The hero barely had time to grab 40 winks for himself, which was his own doing. Rory McIlroy’s modus operandi in the week of the Majors is to get out earlier than anyone and to get his prep work done almost before others have even decided which side of the bed to get out of. Why change?
So it was that McIlroy – who’d arrived to his accommodation in the early hours after flying over from the Scottish Open where he finished tied-second behind Chris Gotterup – was off and away with caddie Harry Diamond by 7am in getting reacquainted with the Dunluce championship links for this 153rd Open.
Down the fairways they went, over the bumps and hollows and to rediscover the greens that have their own secrets.
As McIlroy worked his way around the links, the galleries grew ever larger. And in a sign of how he has embraced what lies ahead, his hand was most probably sore from signing numerous autographs including on a giant Northern Ireland flag cleverly designed to also bring in the four Majors, a worthy recognition of his career Grand Slam achievement.
RM Block
“I didn’t come up here ahead of time to try to get a couple of practice rounds in, so I just wanted to get out early, sort of beat the rush, beat the crowd, and do my work with not a lot of people around. So that was the reason that I did that today. It worked out well,” said McIlroy, who also benefited from having his round finished before a weather delay due to thunderstorms in the area.
“I felt like I showed some really good signs last week. I feel like I’m in a good spot,” he added.
McIlroy, the man, is the people’s champion in these parts. Rightly so, too. And, importantly, it would seem, he has sought to embrace all that is going on around him this time. Back in 2019, he opted to transit in and out by helicopter, as if the isolation method would help defray the hype and expectations.
“I think in ’19, I probably tried to isolate, and I think it’s better for everyone if I embrace it. I think it’s better for me because 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. 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,” explained McIlroy of adopting a different approach this time.
And, of course, this is a date that, as he put it, has been in his diary for quite some time, a big red circle around this week in July.
“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,” he admitted.
McIlroy looks and sounds more like the player who dominated the PGA Tour before the Masters – where he won the AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am and The Players in the early-season campaign – and dealing with the addition of the green jacket has, understandably, taken time to digest.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and, perhaps, he should have shut up shop earlier and taken a longer break after fulfilling that dream of adding his name to the exclusive list of Grand Slam winners.
“I think everyone could see over the last couple of months how I struggled with that. I’ve done something that I’ve told everyone that I wanted to do, but then it’s like I still feel like I have a lot more to give. Talk about the pressure being off, yes, we’re all competitors. We all want to do better. We all think we can just get a little bit extra out of what we have.
“I’ve alluded to this, but I probably just didn’t give myself enough time to let it all sink in. But that’s the nature of professional golf. They do a very good job of keeping you on the hamster wheel, and you feel like it’s hard to get off at times.
“But it’s been an amazing year. The fact that I’m here at Portrush with the green jacket, having completed that lifelong dream. I want to do my best this week to enjoy everything that comes my way and enjoy the reaction of the fans and enjoy being in front of them and playing in front of them.
“But at the same time, I want to win this golf tournament, and I feel like I’m very capable of doing that.”
Who could doubt him? For a man deprived of sleep, he was full of energy. The homecoming could yet be something very special indeed.
