Rory McIlroy rings the changes after stark admission about previous Portrush pressure
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Six years after succumbing to the hype about being the home favorite, Rory McIlroy has opted for a new approach as The Open returns to his native Northern Ireland.
Rory McIlroy will be taking a very different approach as he prepares for another tilt at the Claret Jug in his homeland.
The 2014 Champion Golfer rocked up at Royal Portrush six years ago with the entire golf world convinced that he would end what was at the time a five-year major drought at the course on which he holds the record thanks to a 61 as a teenager.
But he blitzed his opening drive out of bounds and scratched a quadruple-bogey eight into his scorecard before adding 71 more shots to all but miss the cut before the second round had even started. Twenty-four hours later, a rallying 65 proved to be just one shy.
Six years later, McIlroy is back on the Causeway Coast and pondering what might have caused his iffy start last time out.
“I remember the ovation I got on the first tee on Thursday and not being prepared for it, or not being ready for how I was going to feel or what I was going to feel,” McIlroy explained in his pre-tournament press conference.
“Then the golf on Thursday feels like a bit of a blur. I try to forget that part of it.
“I wish I would have been here for two more days to get a bit more of that and experience it. But hopefully I can change that this week.”
McIlroy, who finished in a share for 2nd at the Scottish Open before jetting straight across the Irish Sea, says he arrived at his Portrush hotel at around 1am before getting “about four hours of sleep” ahead of a 7am practice round tee time.
Explaining his early start, McIlroy added: “At the PGA and the US Open, the practice rounds take so long. I feel like there’s 50 people inside the ropes all the time. I feel like I just can’t get good work done, good preparation.
“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, beat the rush, beat the crowd, and do my work with not a lot of people around.
“It was nice to get 18 holes in early and feel like I got a productive day of work in.”
“I’m looking forward to taking a nap after this.”
It’s all part of McIlroy’s new approach to dealing with the pressure of not only being the favorite, but the home favorite.
“I think in ’19 I probably tried to isolate,” he said. “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.”
That five-year drought turned into more than a decade, before McIlroy finally slipped into the Green Jacket he had craved his entire life.
Since then, the now five-time major champion has struggled for form and motivation. But he will tee up on Thursday on the back of a top-six finish at the Travelers before that runner-up at Renaissance – and that has put something of a spring in his step.
“I’m certainly encouraged by how I’ve played the last two starts, especially last week in Scotland,” McIlroy said. “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 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 [and] I definitely feel like it put me in a good spot heading into here.”
The entire world will be holding its breath when he pulls the trigger on Thursday.
