by Rory McIlroy is brewed in his home country when the 153rd British Open is going on on Thursday at Royal Portrush when Scottie Scheffler is looking for his first Claret Krug.
Mcilroy returns to Northern Ireland as a Masters champion, but decided to make up for his catastrophic start at Portrush six years ago when a four-time bogey on the opening hole on the way to a first round 79 he missed the cut.
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The second world is the star attraction for almost 280,000 spectators who are supposed to take part in the last major of the year on the four match days.
However, Scheffler is the favorite, although he has never won the British Open, while the defending champion Xander Schauffele has had a frustrating year.
McIlroy, who has to fight the worst stormy weather for the opening round in the early evening together with team -mate Tommy Fleetwood from Ryder Cup with 15.10 time (1410 GMT) and the American rival Justin Thomas.
But the man who announced himself as a star of the future by broke the course record at Portrus with a 61 as a 16-year-old 20 years ago, after ending his eleven-year-old great drought at the Masters in April.
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“When I looked at the calendar for 2025, this was the tournament, which was probably more than the champions for various reasons,” said Mcilroy, who finished second at the Scottish Open last week.
“It’s nice to be in with a major and everything else that happened this year. I am excited to see where my game is.”
– Scheffler unfulfilled – –
Scheffler’s eighth place at the Scottish Open stretched its top 10 strips to his last 10 tournaments, a run with three wins.
The American also contributed to his main traffic this year by winning his third party at the PGA championship.
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But Scheffler’s comments about the tournament eve that he is “not a fulfilling life”.
“There are many people who make it up to what they would fulfill in life, and they come there, they reach number one in the world and they are ‘what is the point?'” Said Scheffler.
“It feels like working all their lives to win a tournament for a few minutes. It only takes a few minutes, this kind of euphoric feeling.”
Schauffele longs for the feeling of winnings after not reaching the heights of his two main victories in 2024.
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The third world number has not won a tournament a year ago since the Claret jug was picked up and this year has not even achieved a top 5 finish in 12 tournaments.
Shane Lowry is another former winner who wants to reproduce his career high when he stormed to victory in a sea of Irish flags in 2019 – the first host of the event on the island of Ireland for 68 years.
Lowry’s victory is now reminiscent of a murals in the city of Portrush, but he joked, he is glad that he doesn’t have to drive past it every day on his way to the course.
“When I won here in 2019, it was something very special and it was a great day for the country and everyone around me, but it didn’t change me as a person,” said Lowry.
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“When the wall painting was placed on the wall, I didn’t think I was immortalized. I am only myself, I’m just okay in the golf and I have achieved what I did in sport.”
Ryder Cup Places are also at stake for most European and US players this week, with only Scheffler and Mcilroy guarantee their places in Bethpage, New York in September.
The two-time master Padraig Harrington from Ireland will meet the first T-shot at 6:35 a.m. and play with the Northern Irish boy Tom McKibbin and the Nicolai Hojgaard in Denmark.
KCA/JC
