Jon Rahm looks to have his Major mojo back this year, and he hopes that a liking for Royal Portrush can help push him over the edge and claim The Open Championship.
Rahm went through a dodgy spell in the Majors after joining LIV Golf, but 2025 has seen him right back in the thick of things and challenging at the sharp end.
The Spaniard finished T14 at The Masters and T7 at the US Open either side of his best performance when only a late collapse cost him the chance to win the PGA Championship - finishing T8.
Rahm finished T11 in 2019 when the Open was last played at Royal Portrush - Shane Lowry taking home the Claret Jug on that occasion.
A two-time Irish Open winner, including at neighboring Portstewart, Rahm also enjoyed Portrush playing there in the 2014 Amateur Championship - so he feels he'll have a big chance of adding a third Major at the Northern Irish links.
"I like Royal Portrush. Last Open there I did well. I played a British Am there and had nothing but a good experience," said Rahm.
"It's a fantastic golf course where, like every other Major, you have to do everything well. I've been lucky enough to play in Ireland and Northern Ireland, so I'm hoping that can carry on over into a Major championship, as well."
Rahm says that Portrush offers a unique twist on the usual links golf test thanks to bigger elevation changes than you normally find on most other places on the Open rota.
"It's a bit of a unique links because you don't usually have elevation changes in links golf, and it's not that it's massive, but that first hole you have anywhere between a wedge to a 7-iron with a massive upslope and massive crosswinds," Rahm explained.
"That's not something you usually see.
"The 5th hole is severely downhill, even the 7th going and up is not something you usually see. And then 16, 17, 18, with having to go over cliffs and falloffs and elevation changes, it's not something you usually get to practice in links golf.
"Usually it's perfectly flat, and there's other elements to worry about. So that's what makes Portrush to me a little bit more special."
