Rory McIlroy and Royal Portrush: From 61 at 16 to Open Champion?

Rory McIlroy’s career has been under the proverbial microscope since he was a young lad drawing large crowds at local courses in Northern Ireland.

However, with the 2019 British Open heading to Royal Portrush this week, there’s a magnificent story regarding Rory McIlroy that I would be willing to bet not many people know.

The year is 2005 and a 16-year-old phenom is obliterating the field at the 2005 North of Ireland Amateur Open. That phenom is Rory McIlroy. Having already won the West of Ireland Championship and Irish Close Championship earlier that year, McIlroy set his sights on claiming another “hometown” title for his trophy case.

After making the turn at 3-under par, McIlroy eagled hole 10 and birdied hole 11 to catapult to 6-under par with seven holes to play. Hitting a “rough” patch and making pars at 12 and 13, he promptly proceeded to birdie the last five holes to set a new competitive course record of 61. The most astonishing fact of the entire day?

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Rory was only a mere 16 years of age when he flashed the skill set that the golfing world knows all too well today.

From that July day in 2005 in Northern Ireland, Rory McIlroy has established himself as one of the greatest golfers not only of the millennial generation but the sport itself. Amassing an astonishing 25 professional wins and 4 major championship titles at only 30 years old, Rory has always been a major force in almost every tournament in which he competes.

However, he has not found his name atop the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon at a major championship in over four years. However, this week’s tournament has all the makings for that to change. McIlroy will be the fan-favorite this week by Royal Portrush being located only slightly more than an hour from McIlroy’s hometown of Holywood.

With this fact, comes obvious extra pressure, for which McIlroy has struggled with in the past (see Masters 2011). Nonetheless, that collapse and a few others, have all been on American soil, not in his childhood backyard. Rory McIlroy knows this course inside and out, has tamed it better than anyone else ever has (hello 61), and has more motivation to win in front of his Northern Irish faithful than anyone else in the field this week.

Next. British Open 2019: Power ranking the top ten golfers at Royal Portrush. dark

From breaking course records as a 16-year-old phenom to one of golf’s most polarizing figures, McIlroy will look to finalize his position as Northern Ireland’s greatest champion with a win this week at Royal Portrush.

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