McIlroy makes The Open at Royal Portrush his next 'Everest'
Rory McIlroy plays his shot on the 10th hole during the first round of the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa. on Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Logan Whitton/USGA)
Rory McIlroy admits winning the Masters was like scaling his personal Everest, but he now feels ready to return to base camp in Northern Ireland, where The Open at Royal Portrush is the next peak he aims to conquer.
The world number two was back to his loquacious and engaging self after playing some brilliant golf and closing with a three-under 67 to finish on seven-over par and inside the top 30 in the US Open at Oakmont.
Having told the media on Saturday that it was “frustration with you guys” that led to him avoiding post-round chat after his six previous major rounds, he spoke for five minutes after a six-birdie effort where his game flowed beautifully from his driver.
Questions about what he planned as a Grand Slam encore clearly frustrated McIlroy, who spent 11 years chasing his dream but got no time at all afterwards to process his moment.
But he now appears closer to processing his Masters achievement and with good golf the key to his happiness, he cut a positive figure outside Oakmont’s old green and white wooden clubhouse.
The prospect of winning the Claret Jug at home, where he was crushed to miss the cut in 2019, is just the motivation he needs to emerge fully from his post-Masters lethargy and continue to march as one of the game’s greats.
“Look, I climbed my Everest in April, and I think after you do something like that, you've got to make your way back down, and you've got to look for another mountain to climb,” he said of the possibility of winning a second Open title could reignite his game and help him emerge from the post-Masters flatness that’s characterised his performances since that unforgettable day in Georgia.
“An Open at Portrush is certainly one of those.”
He’ll play this week’s Travelers Championship before heading home to Northern Ireland for the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open at Royal Portrush and won’t want for motivation.
“If I can't get motivated to get up for an Open Championship at home, then I don't know what can motivate me,” he said. “I just need to get myself in the right frame of mind. I probably haven't been there the last few weeks.
“Getting home and having a couple of weeks off before that, hopefully feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, will get me in the right place again.”
While he made a private visit home after winning the Masters, The Open will double as his homecoming parade and he does not want to disappoint.
“Hopefully I can celebrate with them on Sunday night with the Claret Jug and the Green Jacket,” he said. “Look, it will be amazing to go home and play in that atmosphere and see a lot of people that I still haven't seen yet.
“I'm really looking forward to it. It was nice to end this week with a bit of a positive note with the way I played today, and I'll just be looking forward to and trying to get myself prepared for Portrush.”
McIlroy saved the best for last at Oakmont, ripping most tee shots high and long down the fairway before rifling a wide variety of approach shots unerringly at the soft but treacherous greens.
He hit 11 of 14 fairways and made over 100 feet of putts if you count a 28-footer from just off the green at the 11th.
After making birdies from 16 feet at the second and 22 feet at the seventh to turn in one-under 34— seven shots better than he managed in Thursday’s first round— he covered the back nine in one-under thanks to a series of mesmeric drives and laser-like approaches.
“I feel like I've driven the ball well all week,” said McIlroy, who bogeyed the 10th after finding heavy rough just a yard off the back of the green and followed that birdie at the 11th with two more at the 13th and 14th before recovering from a three putt bogey at the 16th with a spectacular two putt birdie at the 314-yard 17th.
“The way I drove it today, I’ll probably finish in the top five for strokes gained off the tee. So really encouraged with the driver and how I drove it as well.”
After the controversy over his non-conforming driver at the PGA Championship, McIlroy explained that the club was not to blame for his recent struggles from the tee.
“It's not necessarily the driver, it's more me and where my swing was,” he said. “I feel like I got a really good feeling in my swing with the driver, which was great, and hopefully I can continue that on into next week.
“It's close, as I said. Physically, I feel like my game’s there and it was just about mentally, getting myself in the right frame of mind to get the best out of myself.”
Michael Campbell said after winning the US Open that finding a new goal was a challenge and likened it to the high casualty rate among climbers descending Everest.
It’s an emotional challenge and McIlroy admitted he was surprised by how emotional he felt a Portrush in 2019, when he made a quadruple bogey eight after pulling his opening tee shot out of bounds and opened with a disastrous 80 before fighting back with the crowd behind him on Friday to shoot a 65 that proved one stroke too many,
“I didn't realise how emotional I was going to be at Portrush,” he said. “I think that was a thing I was unprepared for more than anything else.
“I remember I hit a shot into 12 or 13 on Friday night, obviously trying to make the cut. I remember the roar I got when the ball hit the green, and I felt like I was about to burst into tears.
“Just that support and that love from your own people. So I was unprepared for that. I need to just get myself in the right frame of mind to feel those feelings again.”
With that, he was off to live life out of the spotlight,
“It's always nice to get home,” he said. “I feel like I live two different lives. I'm a dad and a husband when I'm away from here, and then I'm who I am when I'm here.
“It's always nice to get away and feel a bit of normality.”
