Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy on day two of the Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, North Berwick, Scotland, Friday July 11, 2025. (Andrew Milligan/PA via AP)

Rory McIlroy already has everything he wanted from golf.

His dream was to be the best player in the game, which he fulfilled long ago by reaching No. 1 in the world nine times. The tallest mountain took 11 years to climb, and this was truly rarefied air when McIlroy won the Masters in April to complete the career Grand Slam.

So joyous was that moment for McIlroy that he figured anything else he achieved in his career would be gravy.

“That very well could be the highlight of my career,” McIlroy said of his Masters green jacket and all that came with it.

There very well could be one more — golf’s oldest trophy on McIlroy’s home soil. The 153rd edition of the British Open returns to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland on July 17-20. There might not be a better way for McIlroy to conclude a most unforgettable season.

Unlike the Masters at Augusta National, where he returned every April, chances to win a major on home soil don’t come along very often for McIlroy. Irish eyes were on McIlroy in 2019 at Royal Portrush, where he hit his opening tee shot out-of-bounds and saw his spirited rally to make the cut fall just short.

For McIlroy, this is no ordinary British Open.

“If venues in golf matter to you, it maybe puts a little bit more pressure on you,” he said.

From the emotional side of it, he thought about Novak Djokovic winning Olympic gold in tennis last year in what he knew would be his final chance. That was about timing. This is location, playing before the largest crowd to see golf on the Emerald Isle, celebrating the sixth and most recent winner of the career Grand Slam, and high hopes for their favorite son in golf.

“You think about it, and you can’t pretend that it’s not there,” McIlroy said. “But when you are on the golf course, you just have to go out there and play as if you’re not playing at home, and just play as if it’s another golf tournament. But yeah, it obviously is a little more,” he said. “It has a little more emphasis. There’s something extra there.”

Elsewhere:

– Chris Gotterup has tied the course record at The Renaissance Club with a 61. That gives him a two-shot lead over Harry Hall of England going into the weekend at the Scottish Open.

– Top-ranked amateur Lottie Woad is living up to her pre-tournament billing and in contention at the halfway point of the Evian Championship. Woad is coming off a remarkable six-stroke win on the Ladies European Tour. She shot 2-under 69 to move onto 5-under par at the fourth major of the year in women’s golf. Woad is in a tie for 12th place in a group containing world No. 1 Nelly Korda and is five shots off the lead held by Somi Lee of South Korea.

– Chan Kim eagled the par-4 fourth hole for the second straight day, this time with a 36-yard chip in a 2-under 68 that stretched his lead to five strokes Friday in the ISCO Championship.

– Former NHL player Joe Pavelski scored 23 points under a modified Stableford system to take the first-round lead Friday in the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe. Former NBA player and coach Vinny Del Negro, the 2021 winner in the celebrity tournament, was a point back. Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, the 2023 winner, was another point behind at 21 with former soccer player Taylor Twellman. Charles Barkley holed out for eagle from 88 yards on the par-4 second in a nine-point round. He was tied for 24th in the 90-player field.

– LIV Golf is trying again to get world ranking points. The Official World Golf Ranking said the Saudi-funded league of 54 players has sent in a new application to be included in the OWGR.

The first application was rejected in October 2023 because the OWGR said it could not fairly measure a league that amounts to a closed shop with other tours around the world. LIV withdrew its application a year ago in May.

It is not clear how the league would operate differently to get the OWGR to reconsider. World ranking points help determine the field for the four majors.