Rory McIlroy is back at Royal Portrush for the Masters and admits he was taken aback by the volume of support he received when he played in his homeland six years ago
Rory McIlroy has a score to settle on home soil and it wasn’t until he returned to play The Open in Northern Ireland that his level of support really resonated with him. In fact it hit him “like a ton of bricks”.
The Masters champion will aim to do what he did in 2014 – win two Majors in one year when the tournament at Royal Portrush begins on Thursday. On the face of it his last visit their six years ago wasn’t memorable and rather disappointing.
His hopes ended by Friday night as he missed the cut. But in reality his charge on Friday after a devastating Thursday had the crowd cheering on their home favourite as if he were walking down the back nine with a chance of victory on Sunday.
McIlroy’s 79 on Thursday left him eight shots shy of the cut, but he was within a shot of pulling back a nearly impossible deficit to extend his tournament into the weekend. He couldn’t find the birdie on the 18th that he so needed, but the experience had left a mark on him.
He said: “As much as I came here at the start of the week saying I wanted to do it for me, you know, by the end of the round there today I was doing it just as much for them as I was for me. I wanted to be here for the weekend. Selfishly, I wanted to feel that support for two more days.
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McIlroy also confessed: “It’s been an eye-opener for me. Sometimes you’re so far away and you forget about all the people that are cheering you on back home. And then you come and play in front of them, it definitely hit me like a ton of bricks today.”
McIlroy’s opening round saw him come up with a quadruple-bogey eight on the first hole and a triple-bogey seven on the last. In response 24 hours later he made five birdies in his first dozen holes in the second round and another birdie on the 16th gave him genuine hope, even if he fell short.
He’s now back after his mixed emotions of 2019, but they were always going to be a talking point. McIlroy said: “I remember the ovation I got on the first tee on Thursday and not being prepared for it or not being ready for how I was going to feel or what I was going to feel. Then the golf on Thursday feels like a bit of a blur. I try to forget that part of it.”
McIlroy has been paired with Tommy Fleetwood and the two Ryder Cup team-mates will tee off together on Thursday morning. The Northern Irishman knows just what could await him on Sunday and believes victory would be as emotional as completing the Career Slam at Augusta earlier this year.
“I think it would be just as emotional, if not more emotional than Augusta – and everyone saw the mess I was after that. It would be absolutely incredible. I’m so grateful and appreciative of the support I get from home and they really make me feel that out there. That’s an amazing feeling to play in front of and I want to embrace that this week.”