“Like Novak Djokovic at the Olympics” - Rory McIlroy reflects on his ‘home’ Open Championship pressure

Rory McIlroy reflected on the pressure of the upcoming Open Championship taking place in his homeland. The 2025 Open Championship venue is the Dunluce course, located at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

Recently, McIlroy joined a press conference at the Genesis Scottish Open and shared his thoughts about the upcoming Open Championship. He said ( via ASAP):

“I would love to win an Open at Portrush, absolutely. I would love to win an Open at St Andrews. I would love to win a U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. I'd love to win a PGA at PGA Frisco -- no…But it's like there's venues in the game that just mean a little bit more. Frisco might get there one day, who knows.”

He continued,

“It's a little like Djokovic won the Olympics last year, he knew that was doing to be his final chance, and you saw the emotion and you saw how much it meant to him. You think about it, and you can't pretend that it's not there. But when you are on the golf course, you just have to go out there and play as if you're not playing at home and just play as if it's another golf tournament.”

McIlroy missed the cut line at the 2024 Open Championship after scoring 11 over in total. In 2023, the golfer landed at T6 at the same tournament after scoring 6 under in total. McIlroy's last PGA Tour event was the Travelers Championship, where he landed at T6, and his next tournament will be the Genesis Scottish Open.

How did Rory McIlroy perform in the 2025 PGA Tour season?

Rory McIlroy had three victories in the 2025 season, and the first triumph came at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with 21 under. He had three more top 10 finishes at the Children's Houston Open with T5, the Truist Championship with T7, and the Travelers Championship with T6. Here's a list of McIlroy's 2025 performances:

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at the Pebble Beach Golf Links: Winner, 66-70-65-66, 267 (-21)
The Genesis Invitational at the Torrey Pines: T17, 72-67-74-72, 285 (-3)
Arnold Palmer Invitational at the Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club & Lodge: T15, 70-70-73-72, 285 (-3)
THE PLAYERS Championship: Winner, 67-68-73-68-13, 276 (-12)
Texas Children's Houston Open at the Memorial Park Golf Course: T5, 70-66-65-64, 265 (-15)
Masters Tournament at the Augusta National: Winner, 72-66-66-73-3, 277 (-11)
Truist Championship at The Philadelphia Cricket Club: T7, 66-67-69-68, 270 (-10)
PGA Championship at the Quail Hollow Club: T47, 74-69-72-72, 287 (+3)
RBC Canadian Open at the TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley: Missed cut
U.S. Open at the Oakmont Country Club: T19, 74-72-74-67, 287 (+7)
Travelers Championship at the TPC River Highlands: T6, 64-71-68-65, 268 (-12)

About the author

Suchita Chakraborty is a senior golf writer at Sportskeeda. She did her post-graduation at St. Xavier's University. For a year now, she has developed a riveting inclination toward golf, with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy being her top-tier motivational figures to indulge in the sport. She even lives by the words of the Hall of Famer, "You can always become better", which impels her to excel every day. Her strong suit in golf is covering the LPGA Tour, especially the nooks and crannies of the international event, the Solheim Cup. As a pastime amusement, Suchita also engages herself in reading about golf controversies. Her favorite pick is ‘LIV and Let Die’ by Alan Shipnuck, which covers the PGA-LIV beef.

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Edited by Mitali