Rory McIlroy began this major season with the crown jewel of his career, a roller coaster ride in Augusta that threatened to careen off the track many times before elevating him to the highest company in the sport’s history. With no more worlds to conquer, the future Hall of Famer went as flat as the celebratory champagne. Not so much on the course, where he's finished in the top-12 four times in seven attempts since then, including a runner-up at last weekend’s Scottish Open. But he's been at best reclusive and at worst frosty toward the media this summer, and the ebullient spirit that propelled him past fields and into nearly uncharted popularity has been noticeably absent.
All of that is hard to believe and easy to forget after three rounds back in Northern Ireland, where McIlroy is still the main character at the British Open even if his quest to chase down Scottie Scheffler will probably fall short. Sometimes it just takes going home. Of course, the thunderous roars and massive outpouring from the fans help. So too does rolling in 56-foot putts and performing magic tricks by hitting two balls at once en route to a 66 on Saturday.
He’ll tee off Sunday tied for fourth place and six shots behind Scheffler. And yet, he’s already celebrating. For everything he’s already accomplished and for good company in the throngs of supporters erupting in thunderous roars along the way.
McIlroy joined NBC Sports’s Cara Banks in the afterglow of a special day. These post-round interviews can reveal nothing. Stock answers can serve as the default. They are not always like this, where the viewer can hear the smile as plainly as they see it.
Credit the intimacy in the way a one-on-one can make an interview subject feel like they’re just talking to a a singular person. Credit the immediacy for the conversation, with all the emotions and joy still fresh.
Most importantly, credit Banks for not getting in the way. In situations like this it’s not important to craft the perfect question. Roll the highlights and let the person who created them cook with whatever flavor and spicing they’re feeling in the moment. “What happened on 11” is literally the best way to get answers about what happened on 11. No need to overthink it.
McIlroy taking center stage even as Scheffler creeps closer to his fourth major does not take away from the No. 1 player in the world’s accomplishment. Lamenting the participation trophy if you must but Rory is doing some form of winning this weekend. So too is Haotong Li, who hung in there against beefier résumés to earn the last tee time on Sunday. There can be only winner, but it’s not a failure for these guys and the other chasers to briefly tug on Superman’s cape. They deserve their stories to be told as well.
There is joy down the leaderboard and McIlroy, refreshingly, could barely conceal his own. That’s the payoff viewers want and deserve. There’s a lot of people out there who have been missing that grin.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as 2025 British Open TV Review: Delivering the Perfect Post-Round Chat With Rory McIlroy.
