Rory Mcilroy lost open and found something that would be missing

Portrush, Northern Ireland – for a moment, everything you could hear were the seagulls.

The crowd was silent as Rory Mcilroy turned to the ball, shaken his legs and took a last look at the hole, which was put in the right right of the par-4 15. One of the most epic views of Linksland stretched behind him: nine front of Royal Portrush. The 7th and its widespread dunescape. 5th beach and its stretched. Gorgeous white rocks. The ruins of the medieval castle dunluse beyond them.

In the minutes and a few hours ago, tens of thousands of fans had filled those nine nine hills, trying the cords as they tried for a look at Mcilroy in Arena- their Arena – and would turn into a comeback. Now the crowd was compressed in the last four holes; Others were empty, except for a chicken chicken, recovering the known territory. Open Open is epic, but the course exceeds the tournament, and the seagulls exceed both.

Mcilroy shook his blow back and through and sent running by running toward the hole towards the hole. Thirteen meters later she fell in the middle of the cup and a roar climbed from the ancestor behind the green. Mcilroy had no chance of winning – every hope for a miracle was slammed under a double noise in no. 10 – but there was an emergency for their applause. This open was careful towards a conclusion and the loud opportunities were decreasing.

Would always be a complex week For Rory Mcilroy. Maybe there is no golf player hugged more of his home event than Mcilroy in an open in northern Ireland. This week it mattered because Mcilroy is from a small town to this small, golf country. It mattered because it is a big deal in a bigger place, crazy from golf. It mattered because he has a new green jacket. And it matters because returning home is always exciting – especially when you’re not home to stay.

“Judah is just good to come back. I don’t spend much time in these parts,” he said wisely at his pre-Turneut press conference. In the lead of this year’s incident, some media visited Holywood, Mcilroy House Club, just an hour on the road. He still has the same coach, Michael Bannon, who made him as a child of sacred wood. And he has returned to the club, donating a higher gym as part of a new practical object. But his last ‘journey around the course?

“I haven’t played Holywood inside, I’ll say 15 years, maybe,” he said.

If you read about the tournament or you’ve seen Mcilroy on TV coverage, you would probably be remembered at a moment for Mcilroy’s last Portrush tour in 2019, Open’s first return to the island of Ireland for nearly 70 years. He showed the sentimental and betting favorite and under more pressure than he realized.

“I remember the ovation I rode on the first tee on Thursday and not preparing for it – or not ready for the way I would feel,” he said before this week’s event, looking back. This was the first time Mcilroy realized what it meant for these fans, in this country. He linked his opening out of the borders and opened with 79. But it was the second round that stuck with him.

“I remember the run on Friday,” he said. “I remember I was charging a cut and hitting a 6-Herkuri in 14, and I remember the noise from the crowd. It was getting a little dark and cloudy, and for whatever reason I remember that stroke and that roar, and walking up to that green and getting a stand-out ovation.”

Mcilroy shot a 65 second round and lost the cut from a single shot. After the round he gave a tearful post-randy interviewAcknowledging that he would be upset by support, even in loss. It was a wonderful moment that gave two things we want when we look at sports: something unexpected and something real. And this made this year’s return to a much more convincing portrait, knowing how much he wanted each party to go better.

It changed things that Mcilroy turned this round with a longer resume. While you may have heard, he is a master’s champion and a Slam-Slam career winner. Maybe this reduced the pressure, but it certainly did not reduce the spectacle. A cafe in the city was renamed Rory and Bert. An ice cream store made a mural with Mcilroy’s face in spraying. The event at Royal Portrarian was sold almost immediately, in the amount of more than 200,000 tickets, each of which appeared early, eager to see the continuation.

In the last mcilroy holes, There were moments that matter. In no. 16, Signature of the Course, PAR-3 Devil, He escaped with a curly wig that sent the crowded hill in joyful applause. In no. 17 He executed a one -sided one -sided up and down by a Greenside bunker, and after he would grip his money, he waited for a minute, then two, then three, after Caddy Harry Diamond finished a rapid job so that the two sons of Northern Ireland could walk the last hole together. And after a regular chip from the Long of 18th Green, Mcilroy scored his two legs for Par and let him play the Matthew Fitzpatrick to finish first. He saved the moment and the past capacity bleach also did, and they cheered as he greeted that final blow and removed his lid and returned and waved in each direction, continuing the last few seconds before disappearing in the tunnel. He would end T7, seven shots from Scheffler’s winning result. Every other week that would have been disappointing. This week it looked like much more.

Mcilroy has had many tearful moments behind lice in recent years, but this was not one of them. He took a moment to compose himself on the road to score; At the time he spoke to reporters he knew exactly what he meant.

He gathered praise for the fugitive winner Scottie Scheffler, calling his current running one of the most fruitful in the history of the game. “And he is a great person and I think he is a wonderful ambassador for our game,” Mcilroy added.

He excelled for the host’s place, calling Royal Portrush “one of the two or three best places in which he opens.” This echoed a widespread feeling by this week’s players; There is a feeling that the old course of St. Andrews is no. 1 as a default, but the portrait measures up to any other stop in the Rota.

And he explained, briefly, what Java had thought of, trying to express his gratitude in the process. He said he felt a lot of pride “I am from these shores”. He said how happy he was open. He said he would remember his reception at No. 18 for a long time.

“It’s been an amazing week, just – I feel so grateful and so lucky that I have to do this before the crowd,” he said. “Hope I will have one or two openings left here if R&A decides to continue to come back – maybe one while I’m still competitive and another while I’m gray than I’m already.”

This was a humble acceptance. We have grown so much learned for Mcilroy to be a five-five player in the game that his idea one day NO Being competitive is annoying. But there is power in absentia; Part of what made this open so significant was to know that he would not return soon.

Generally, the week was felt as a closure for mcilroy. He arrived at Royal Portrad with unfinished business; He left with a more respectful conclusion and a catalog of unforgettable moments. Sunday’s last round also marked the end of a big championship season that he saw that Mcilroy’s wildest golf dreams were fulfilled but also left it occasionally frustrated and lost. Then it was evident that Mcilroy admitted that he was leaving in peace.

“I’ve got everything I wanted from this week except a south Claret,” he said.

Mcilroy was moving when a reporter lobbied one more question on his way. All week, Mcilroy said, he would try to keep his emotions under control. Was there a moment when the gravity of all this – worship, pressure, ovations, great meaning of all – had come down? Had it hit it, what does it mean to return home?

He smiled.

“Not yet,” he said. And with that he limited the podium and headed to the exit. Scheffler’s crowning was about to start. Mcilroy withdrew overnight, finally alone, at the moment. Poulties shouted up.

Dylan dethier welcomes your comments to Dylan_dethier@golf.com.

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