PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Rory McIlroy’s Masters victory lap was supposed to be over by now. He said it himself last month, on the eve of the U.S. Open: “At some point, you have to realize that there's a little bit more golf left to play this season.” Oakmont, predictably, did not offer an easy re-entry point to the real world. But here, in his home country, Rory figured to get back to the grind.
He has. But he is still floating. As he went to mark his ball on the 12th green Sunday, McIlroy acknowledged the cheers in a way that went just beyond professional courtesy. He lingered for an extra moment; he knew they were not just applauding his most recent shot. He then hit his perfect 56-foot putt with exactly as much pace as it needed—enough to creep over a ridge and pour into the cup.
It's ridiculous. It's Rory.
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 19, 2025
Royal Portrush will remember this one. pic.twitter.com/VKSnyvBsse
He called the subsequent eruption “one of the coolest moments … one of the largest roars I’ve ever heard on a golf course.” He pumped his first, walked off the green, and told a broadcaster he knew that it was “pretty good,” and he seemed to mean the moment, not just the stroke.
“It was incredible,” he said of the atmosphere for his third-round 66. “It was so much fun.”
This has been a week unlike any other in McIlroy’s career. He probably won’t yank the Claret Jug out of Scottie Scheffler’s hands, but for once he does not need to win to fulfill hopes and dreams. McIlroy really might look back in 30 years and decide he never enjoyed a week of major-championship golf more than he has enjoyed this British Open at Royal Portrush.
He loved winning the Masters, but there was a lot of misery leading up to it. He enjoyed running away with the 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 PGA Championship, but those were the triumphs of a young man in a country where he had just started to play full-time.
This runs deeper. It has been a long time since McIlroy looked this happy to be on a major-championship golf course. McIlroy, a longtime Florida resident, moved to England this year with his wife Erica and daughter Poppy, and this week has felt like a lot more than just a welcome home for a favorite son. The Portrush crowd is invested in every shot but does not seem angsty about it. His Masters win relieved pressure for everybody.
McIlroy birdied three of the first four holes and looked like he might birdie the next 10. There is nothing in golf quite like McIlroy on a good driving day. He bombed his tee shot on the 12th hole 362 yards (into a gentle breeze!) and controlled his ball well almost all day, except for one weird moment when he hit two balls with one swing.
He was on the 11th, in the rough, and “my ball came out so strange. I thought I was going to get a flyer, and I looked up at my ball, and I could see it spinning up against the wind.”
There was another ball buried in the rough just in front of his own. He didn’t know it until he hit it. McIlroy said that has never happened to him before.
Scheffler would have hit them both onto the green. The guy is just too good. For the second straight day, McIlroy took reporters’ questions as a TV a few feet away showed Scheffler on the back nine. McIlroy was five strokes behind Scheffler as he said “I feel like I've at least given myself half a chance tomorrow,” and he will be six strokes back as he tees off Sunday. Half a chance might be overstating it.
“He’s playing like Scottie,” McIlroy said. “I don’t think it's a surprise. Everyone’s seen the way he's played or plays over the last two or three years.”
McIlroy might not see it this way, but he can win the day without winning the tournament. Get off to a hot start, shoot a round in the 60s, make his people believe for at least a little while. To win, McIlroy needs a little help from Scheffler, and Scheffler has not provided that kind of help in a long time.
Scheffler is the best player in the world. He will probably be the Champion Golfer of the Year and then the PGA Tour Player of the Year. McIlroy would trade places with him on the leaderboard, but only there.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rory McIlroy Might Not Win This British Open, but He’s Savoring a Victory Lap.
