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- Rory McIlroy returns home, faces challengers aplenty at the Open</p>
<p>Field Level MediaJuly 16, 2025 at 9:14 PM</p>
<p>Jun 21, 2025; Cromwell, Connecticut, USA; Rory McIlroy looks on after playing his second shot on the second hole during the third round of the Travelers Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images (Bill Streicher-Imagn Images)</p>
<p>Rory McIlroy rarely got to play in Northern Ireland as a pro before the 2019 Open Championship was staged at Royal Portrush Golf Club. He remembers the internal pressure when he arrived for his tee time that Thursday -- the pressure of wanting to be the hero for his country.</p>
<p>It didn't happen for McIlroy in 2019, but he has since put his major championship drought to bed and he will have a country behind him this week as the 153rd Open Championship returns to Portrush in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.</p>
<p>"I guess it's just something I didn't mentally prepare for that day or that week," McIlroy said Monday. "But I learned pretty quickly that one of my challenges, especially in a week like this, is controlling myself and controlling that battle."</p>
<p>McIlroy likened it to his long-sought Masters victory in April. He wasn't battling his competitors or the golf course that Sunday, but rather himself. A wiser and more rejuvenated McIlroy is widely expected to contend this week, six years after he shot an opening-round 79 at Royal Portrush and missed the cut.</p>
<p>His competition, though, includes a litany of the best players from around the world, including World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun and defending champ Xander Schauffele.</p>
<p>Scheffler previewed the par-71, 7,381-yard course by pointing out the weather's behavior will have a "pretty dramatic effect" on how Portrush plays, and the pot bunkers tend to funnel to the middle so awkward lies are rarer than at other links courses.</p>
<p>"I think it fits my strengths because I like to do things very creatively, and I think out here you kind of have to," Scheffler said. "I think each year we come over, I start learning a bit more and more."</p>
<p>Scheffler captured his third career major at the PGA Championship in May, while the most recent major champ is J.J. Spaun, who endured a brutally difficult course and a rainy weekend at Oakmont Country Club last month to win the U.S. Open at 1 under par.</p>
<p>Spaun was not a complete unknown before that victory, but for context, he had never qualified for the Open Championship until this year.</p>
<p>"I think that all I can do is kind of fall back on that experience and know that I've got it done (at the U.S. Open) at a really pivotal moment, probably in the worst weather of the week, and that I can pull it off kind of anywhere," Spaun said.</p>
<p>World No. 3 Schauffele has yet to win a tournament since his victories at the 2024 PGA Championship and Open Championship, the latter thanks to a final-round 65 to win by two at Royal Troon.</p>
<p>Despite a disappointing season, he's confident he can outduel anyone on the biggest stage.</p>
<p>"If I can get myself in the mix is when I think I would have an advantage. That's where my biggest edge would be," Schauffele said. "... I think the most fun and the biggest advantage I would have is coming down the stretch if I can get close to that lead."</p>
<p>When McIlroy fell short in 2019, Shane Lowry grabbed the mantle and won his only major championship, galvanizing the Irish crowd behind him. His third-round 63 set the modern course record; McIlroy had shot a 61 as a 16-year-old before a full remodel.</p>
<p>"No matter what I done then, it doesn't give me any God-given right to do anything special this week," Lowry said. "I just need to get my head down on Thursday morning and get after it and see what happens."</p>
<p>The field includes nine amateurs and 19 members of LIV Golf, including 52-year-old Englishman Lee Westwood, who got in through final qualifying. It is his first start in a major since the 2022 Open.</p>
<p>Also in the field is Chris Gotterup, who beat McIlroy by two strokes at the Genesis Scottish Open last Sunday to earn a berth into the field. It was Gotterup's second PGA Tour win and vaulted him inside the top 50 in the world rankings.</p>
<p>--Field Level Media</p>
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