Golf

Rory McIlroy knows familiarity of Portrush will stand to him

Former British Open champion says tactics for course came back to him on visit last week

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland speaks with the media at a press conference ahead of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club. Photo: Mark Runnacles/Getty Images

Ewan Murray at Renaissance
Wed Jul 10 2019 - 15:05

Any fears Rory McIlroy harboured regarding the scale of a British Open in his native Northern Ireland were banished on a weekend reconnaissance visit to Royal Portrush. Towering grandstands afford the links McIlroy first visited on his 10th birthday a fresh complexion but the four-times major champion derived a fresh level of comfort from the venue. McIlroy is determined to be inspired rather than overawed by the Open’s long-awaited return.

“I expected it to feel different than it did,” he said. “It still just feels like Portrush to me.

“Yes, the stands are up and it looks fantastic, but it’s still the same golf course. I haven’t played it much over the last few years. So I was sort of a little: ‘Do I really need to refamiliarise myself with this place; how much time do I need to spend?’ When I got on the first tee, everything sort of started coming back to me: On the second tee, I aim it at the brown house, everything started to come back. It felt like just the same old golf course that I grew up playing and it was nice.”

McIlroy had foreseen spending most of Saturday on Ireland’s north coast, having flown in from the USA. “I had not seen my mum in three months,” he explained. “She left [the US] after Augusta to come back home. I made arrangements to go to dinner with my parents and I said: ‘Can we have it about 8pm because I don’t know how much time I’m going to have to spend at Portrush and sort of just get my bearings.’ I ended up moving the dinner forward because I didn’t need to spend as much as time as I thought I did, which I guess is a comforting thing in a way.

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“It’s the same golf course I’ve grown up playing my whole life, and it’s the same tournament that I haven’t finished outside the top five for the last few years.”

McIlroy does, however, insist he is “fully focused” on the Scottish Open, as it begins in East Lothian on Thursday. “I think it’s a little disrespectful when people come in and they are treating it as a warm-up,” he said. “I think most tournaments deserve to stand on their own two feet and have some stature, and the Scottish Open is one of these events on The European Tour. It’s a big event.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged the R&A has issued warnings to personnel regarding potential “disruption” and “disorder” relating to orange parades in Portrush. The British Open falls soon after July 12th, a date of significant celebration by elements of the Protestant community in Northern Ireland. The Portrush Sons of Ulster has organised a concert for six flute bands on the Saturday evening of the British Open, a matter the R&A claimed to the Guardian it had “no position” on.

It has now emerged the British Open organisers issued a memo “to all contractors and service providers to the Open 2019” relating to the “most significant date in the Protestant, unionist and loyalist parading calendar.” It states: “During this period, it is recommended to avoid displaying football colours. It is also recommended to be sensitive to any conversations in public regarding Northern Ireland politics or the Troubles.” – Guardian