Tag: 2024 Amgen Irish Open

Rory McIlroy returns to home soil for Amgen Irish Open, sits two back after first round

McIlroy is on familiar soil.

Rory McIlroy is on familiar soil.

Eleven days after a tie for ninth in the Tour Championship, McIlroy fired a first-round 68 on Thursday in the 2024 Amgen Irish Open. The event is being held at Royal County Down in his home nation of Northern Ireland, which ranks No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best list of courses outside the U.S.

McIlroy raves about it, saying, “I definitely think it’s the best links course in the world.”

https://twitter.com/IrishOpen_/status/1834296299513917935

He won the 2016 Irish Open crown at The K Club but a year prior, when the Irish Open was at Royal County Down, he missed the cut. He also missed the Open Championship cut in 2019 at Royal Portrush, also in Northern Ireland.

“The couple Irish Opens that I’ve played in Northern Ireland, the one Open Championship I played in Northern Ireland, hasn’t gone so well,” he said ahead of this year’s event. “It’s on me to try and relax and go about my business as I would at any other time of the year. It’s great to play in front of them (the fans) but I have to manage my own little world around me to try to get the best out of myself as well.”

During Thursday’s round, McIlroy opened with a birdie but back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 14 and 15 dropped him back to even par. He then birdied his final three holes to finish 3 under on the day.

McIlroy is tied for third four others. Sami Valimaki and Alejandro Del Ray are tied for second at 4 under.

Everyone’s chasing Todd Clement of England, who fired a a 5-under 66, a round he capped off with an eagle on the 18th hole. He hit his second into the 540-yard par-5 to 17 feet, then drained the eagle putt.

Royal County Down, Golfweek’s No. 1 international course, a welcome site for Amgen Irish Open

Professional golf and top-ranked courses don’t always coincide as well as this week at Royal County Down.

Truly great courses and professional golf rarely collide, but this week is a welcome exception.

Royal County Down’s Championship Links, site of the Amgen Irish Open beginning Thursday on the DP World Tour, has a rare distinction: it’s one of only two courses to be ranked No. 1 on one of Golfweek’s Best premium rankings of courses to have hosted an upper-level men’s tour event in decades. The layout in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, ranks No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best list of courses outside the U.S.

Royal County Down originally was designed as a nine-hole layout by George L. Baillie in 1889. Nine more holes were laid down among the sandy dunes as designed by none other than Old Tom Morris over the following years. The course has evolved over the decades with contributions by George Combe, Harry Colt and Donald Steel, among others making suggestions.

The ninth green at Royal County Down in the lead-up to Amgen Irish Open 2024 in Newcastle, Northern Ireland (Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

Royal County Down has hosted a slew of top-level events including three previous Irish Opens, most recently in 2015. It also has been the site of various British Amateur Championships, Senior British Opens, a Curtis Cup, a Walker Cup, the British Ladies Amateur six times, and the European Ladies’ Team Championship.

Not counting our wide-ranging state-by-state rankings of public and private courses, the only other No. 1 on one of our premium lists to host a top-tier event has been Pebble Beach Golf Links in California, site of  six U.S. Opens, one PGA Championship, one U.S. Women’s Open and multiple U.S. Amateurs and U.S. Women’s Amateurs. Also the annual host of the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the famed layout is No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of resort courses in the U.S.

By comparison, the private Cypress Point in California took over the No. 1 spot this year on Golfweek’s Best ranking of classic courses built before 1960 in the U.S., but the PGA Tour hasn’t been back since 1990. Before Cypress Point took over the top spot this year, Pine Valley in New Jersey had enjoyed a long run in the No. 1 spot, but that private stalwart never has hosted a PGA Tour event. That leaves Augusta National, ranked No. 3 among American classics and home to the Masters, as the highest-ranked classic course in the U.S. to have hosted a top-level men’s event in recent memory.

Among modern courses built since 1960 in the U.S., none of the top seven layouts have hosted a PGA Tour event. The Straits Course at Kohler’s Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, tied for No. 8 on that list, is the highest-ranked modern course to have welcomed top-level men’s events, including three PGA Championships, a U.S. Senior Open and a Ryder Cup.