Rory McIlroy will soon turn his attention to The Open Championship, which returns to Royal Portrush next month.
Holywood native McIlroy has won The Open Championship once during his stunning career, triumphing at Royal Liverpool back in 2014.
Since then, the Northern Irishman has completed the career grand slam, lifting the trophy at all four major championship tournaments.
His latest success arrived at The Masters at Augusta National, but focus is now very much on Royal Portrush in McIlroy’s homeland.
His close friend and fellow PGA Tour player Shane Lowry says Royal Portrush is ‘looking great’ ahead of the competition, which takes place in mid-July.
Photo by Warren Little/R&A/R&A via Getty ImagesWhat Rory McIlroy noticed about Royal Portrush upon seeing it for the first time
And as per Fried Egg Golf, McIlroy’s thoughts on the venue have now emerged, with the five-time major champion having recalled seeing the course for the very first time.
He said: “I remember… I’d never been, I’d never played the course before. And you’re driving on this little road, and then you get to the crest of the hill, and you just… you’re overlooking the entire golf course before you take the left to go down into Portrush.
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“And I remember just looking at it going this place – especially as a 10-year-old – this place looks absolutely huge, and the dunes are so high, like everything just was like… it was a golf course but bigger.
“Holywood is this tiny little piece of land on the side of a hill, and you go to somewhere like Portrush and it’s just a completely different style and a completely different scene of golf that I hadn’t really experienced before.
“I just think how big everything was, you know how deep the bunkers were, even the hill up to the first green is like a big climb. I don’t know, to me it just felt big.”
What happened to Rory McIlroy at the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush?
Royal Portrush certainly knows what it takes to host a major championship, with The Open Championship having been held there in 2019.
Lowry lifted the prestigious Claret Jug back then over the border from his native Ireland, clinching a six-shot victory.
The 2019 Open Championship final leaderboard
It represents his only major championship win to date, with Englishman Tommy Fleetwood and American Tony Finau finishing second and third respectively.
But there was no such success for McIlroy, who despite huge support from his home fans missed out on the weekend.
The Northern Irishman carded rounds of 79 and 65 on Thursday and Friday respectively, finishing on two-over.
He missed the cut by one shot, with compatriot Darren Clarke also missing out alongside the likes of high-profile names Tiger Woods, Jason Day and Adam Scott.