This year’s Major season has already thrown up the storyline that we’ve all been waiting for with Rory McIlroy finally landing the Masters.
Scottie Scheffler is now a three-time winner and halfway to his career Grand Slam after his victory at Quail Hollow.
And after wins for the world’s top two, we now have a great underdog story after JJ Spaun closed out victory in the US Open at Oakmont by holing a monster putt on the final green.
Where is the next major?
Royal Portrush will host the 153rd Open and it will be just the third time that the Dunluce Links has staged the game’s oldest Major. It will take place on July 17-20. The first time came in 1951 when The Open moved away from Great Britain for the first time – England’s Max Faulkner won his sole Major – and of course Shane Lowry prevailed as recently as 2019.
What’s it best known for?
Other than Faulkner’s heroics, Rory McIlroy’s 61 in the North of Ireland Amateur in 2005 always gets plenty of column inches. Then came the course changes and the addition of two new holes at 7 and 8 so Lowry’s 63 in 2019 is the new low mark.
There were eight birdies and he hit 17/18 greens. Lowry picked up a hat-trick of shots from the 15th and he even had the presence of mind to enjoy his low scoring.
Lowry said: “I said to my caddy Bo (Martin) walking off the 17th tee: ‘We might never have a day like this on the golf course again, so let’s enjoy this next half an hour.’ And that’s what I did. The crowd was incredible. I just can’t believe what it was like. Honestly, that’s the most incredible day I’ve ever had on the course.”
Lowry shot a closing 72 to win by six, with Tommy Fleetwood in second and Tony Finau making up the podium.
Anything else?
Back to Rory. With the 61 and general hullabaloo around him he was well fancied back in 2019. Then he pulled his opening tee shot out of bounds (with an iron), quadrupled the hole, doubled 16 and trebled the last; all of which added up to a 79. He then hit back with a 65 which saw him come up just shy of making the weekend.
What is the signature hole?
The short par-4 5th is well photographed with the White Rocks beach sitting just beyond the green. There are no bunkers and, with the right wind, there is a chance to feed your drive onto the putting surface. The 16th, Calamity Corner, is another that gets plenty of headlines. This is another mighty par 3 that is played across a huge ravine with mounds and hollows to the left of the green. But Portrush is consistently brilliant throughout and is rightly ranked as one of the best in the world.
Have the big guns played here before?
Portrush is quite a rarity as there is so little to go on other than the 2019 Open. Interestingly the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg are yet to play Portrush in a competitive guise. The club also staged the 2012 Irish Open which was won by Jamie Donaldson.
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