Rory McIlroy insists playing in front of home support at The 2025 Open Championship is an “experience I will never forget” after arguably Northern Ireland’s greatest-ever sportsperson received a hero’s welcome in Portrush.

It was a return six years in the making, and it was a return that perfectly encapsulated Rory McIlroy. Making the trek back to Royal Portrush for The Open Championship -- now as a career grand slam winner -- the Northern Irishman experienced a topsy-turvy day as the hard stuff came easy and the easy stuff came hard.

The next visit to the Emerald Isle may actually come in Ireland, not Northern Ireland. Portmarnock Golf Club has been under consideration in recent years. Set on a peninsula which juts into the Irish Sea about 8 miles northeast of Dublin, the course winds its way through rolling sand hills on crisp turf and pot bunkers abound.

Just as a certain Northern Irishman’s golf ball flew left, but not too far left, and safely settled in the rough, the sun peeked ou

Rory McIlroy’s jokes about “more grey than I already am” for the Open’s return to Royal Portrush before his retirement could also apply to the impact of trying to close down Sunday champion Scottie Scheffler.

McIlroy could not reproduce his Saturday magic to catch Scottie Scheffler, but he still achieved a level of redemption at his home Open

It was ugly at times and he barely located a fairway but Rory McIlroy's homecoming party at Royal Portrush this time did not go as flat as a pint of stale Guinness as he scrambled to an opening-round 70 at the British Open on Thursday.

Rory McIlroy hopes The Open Championship will return to Northern Ireland once again in the near future, hailing Royal Portrush as “one of the best two or three venues” that the tournament is staged at.

Rory McIlroy admits he prioritised Royal Portrush return over career Grand Slam - The 36-year-old added a Masters green jacket to his collection in April to become the sixth player to win all four major championships.