On the evening of 20 July 2014, Rory McIlroy bounced out of the media centre at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. He cradled the Claret Jug, not long after doing likewise to his tearful mother on the 18th green.
The final question to McIlroy in that Open champion’s press conference involved Augusta National and how the Northern Irishman planned to establish a level of comfort before the Masters of the following April. That theme ignored the US PGA Championship, which McIlroy had added to his roll of honour for the second time by mid-August. With four major titles to his name, McIlroy was on a rocket-fuelled journey to become the greatest European golfer of all time.
Depending on one’s criteria. McIlroy remains a firm part of that conversation. This is an individual with 37 professional wins, lengthy spells as the No 1-ranked golfer in the world and an X factor which sets him apart from peers.
Sunday in East Lothian, where McIlroy cut a sublime two-iron into the 72nd Scottish Open hole, provided the latest reminder that this is a remarkable sportsman prone to delivery of remarkable things. To golf fans, he is “Rory” and not “McIlroy” for a reason.
Had anybody suggested nine years ago that he would return to Royal Liverpool in 2023 still with a quartet of majors to his name, a listening audience would be advising a visit from men in white coats. McIlroy was a dominant, freewheeling figure. The intervening period has seen the 34‑year‑old do everything in majors – miss cuts, fall miles short, fall agonisingly short – apart from the one thing that sustains him more than anything else. Win one.
There is no particularly strong rationale to dictate McIlroy will end his wait here. Royal Liverpool is different in layout to 2014. McIlroy is at a totally different life juncture to 2014. Sergio García, who tied second with Rickie Fowler that year, is not even in this field. Fowler fell off the golfing map before recent success at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. The golf world waits for no one. McIlroy bridles against the application of fate as a justification for anything he has done or will do in his career. He has to earn it. History does not appear on a scorecard. It is just that golf as a whole would benefit from McIlroy standing atop a major podium once more.
Many of us are entitled to believe he has done the hard yards, on and off the course. The vast galleries which followed McIlroy play the back nine on Wednesday proved he remains the popular choice. In a non-tribal environment, the masses root for the world No 2. They will have noted how at ease McIlroy looked on the Wirral links.
McIlroy’s less-is-more approach – namely, the dodging of pre‑tournament media duties – served him well before winning the Scottish Open and, earlier, coming close to the same at the US Open. There is obvious method behind it. He has little to gain by publicly assessing why his major hiatus has run for so long. He would hardly benefit from delving once more into LIV Golf and associated machinations. McIlroy will never curb a natural tendency to talk and talk candidly but he is wise to pick his moments.
“The list of champions Royal Liverpool has produced is second to none,” said Martin Slumbers, the R&A’s chief executive. There was no exaggeration there. McIlroy joined Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones, Fred Daly, Peter Thomson and Tiger Woods as a Hoylake winner. B-listers need not apply.
“The guys who strike the ball the best will be identified this week and have an advantage,” Australia’s Adam Scott said, when asked to expand on Royal Liverpool’s tendency to thrill. “Really fair tests, good tests bring out the best winners. At some Open courses there is a little more luck involved than at others, but here there is fairly flat ground and there aren’t any crazy bounces going on. It is demanding but that is the game generally. A good shot gets a good reward here, which I think is why a good player playing well gets results.”
Scott’s compatriot, Cameron Smith, defends the Claret Jug. Smith’s defection to LIV does not appear to have drained his competitive juices; he tied ninth at the US PGA Championship and was fourth in the US Open. Jon Rahm is yet to seriously build on victory at the Masters but this is a venue which should perfectly suit his shot-making.
North-west support, if not for McIlroy, will fall on Tommy Fleetwood. The Southport man is yet to win a major, with the Open sitting at the top of his target list. “I have imagined it about a million times probably,” the world No 21 said. “Winning a major is a dream. Winning the Open is a huge, huge dream.
“No matter where that is, that’s always something I’ve visualised and always thought about. But then again, having the opportunity to do it so close to where you grew up is something that’s very special.”
Sentiment such as Fleetwood’s matters because this is a sport which has been wildly distorted by money. Golfers would joust for the Claret Jug if there was no cheque attached but, instead, £2.3m will also be bestowed on Sunday’s champion. To McIlroy, this was all about the glory rather than the purse long ago. The rekindling of a love affair with Royal Liverpool would kickstart a fresh, invigorating career phase.
