Rory McIlroy reveals one thing in which he and Shane Lowry have ‘different taste’

Rory McIlroy is back at Royal Portrush this week for The Open Championship and spoke to the media about his close friend and fellow Irishman Shane Lowry. Both players are past winners of the event, McIlroy in 2014 and Lowry in 2019, and are looking to lift the Claret Jug again on home soil.

McIlroy, who came up just short at the Scottish Open last week, arrives in strong form, while Lowry comes in fresh after a break since his T45 finish at the Travelers Championship. Ahead of the event, during a fun quiz, McIlroy was asked about his favorite song or artist. When told that Lowry had picked an Irish genre, Rory McIlroy said:

“No, definitely not that. His taste in music is a lot different than mine. Very different.”

The World No. 2 also opened up about his growing bond with Lowry. The duo has become closer in recent years and even teamed up to win the Zurich Classic in 2024. McIlroy praised Lowry’s ability to balance his career and family life, calling it something he aspires to.

“Shane and I have become — we’ve always been close, but I think we’ve become very close over the last sort of five or six years. I think once we both had kids, or at least once I had kids or had a daughter and I see how Shane is with his daughters, and I just think — when I say like a role model, I just think about how he is off the course, how he is able to separate his family life and his normal life from his golfing life,” McIlroy added (via the Golfing Gazette).

While Shane Lowry has played in 16 events so far, with no wins but two runner-up finishes and four top-10s, the Open Championship will be Rory McIlroy’s 13th event of the 2025 PGA Tour calendar, where he already has three wins, one runner-up finish, and seven top-10s.

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Rory McIlroy heads to Royal Portrush with optimism after missing the cut last year

This will be Rory McIlroy’s second time competing in The Open Championship on home soil after the tournament was held at Royal Portrush in 2019. The five-time major winner admitted he struggled for motivation after completing his career Grand Slam earlier this year. McIlroy became just the sixth player in history to win all four majors when he defeated Justin Rose in a playoff at Augusta to claim the Masters in April.

Since that milestone victory, McIlroy has played six events but struggled to replicate his winning form. His best finish came last week with a tie for second at the Genesis Scottish Open, where he finished two strokes behind Chris Gotterup. Before that, he placed T6 at the Travelers Championship with a 12-under-par total.

Speaking ahead of The Open, Rory McIlroy said he is happy to return to Royal Portrush and feels well-prepared after his run in Scotland.

"I guess I want to go away somewhere and sit in my green jacket for a couple of weeks and no one annoy me, but that’s never going to be the case. I’m super happy to be back. I had a good week in Scotland, which was really good preparation coming in here," McIlroy said.

"I felt like my game progressed as the week went on. Had a really good weekend hit a lot of good shots had a little bit of breeze as well which was nice to to play in. Coming home you know and in front of these fans...after having done what I did in April at Augusta, it's going to be an amazing week," he added.

Last year, Rory McIlroy missed the cut at The Open after finishing 11-over par. Since his 2014 victory, his best result in the championship was a T2 at the 2018 edition, where he finished 6-under.