Tag: 2024 Amgen Irish Open

Rasmus Hojgaard holes out, steals Rory McIlroy’s thunder with Amgen Irish Open victory

Rasmus Hojgaard’s improbable run on the back nine helped him capture his fifth DP World Tour victory.

With a sold-out crowd and a ton of momentum, Rory McIlroy appeared poised to post his first DP World Tour victory on Northern Irish soil after taking the 54-hole lead at the Amgen Irish Open on Saturday.

And for much of Sunday too it appeared McIlroy, who missed the cut the last time the event was held at Royal County Down in 2015, would have a homecoming victory to celebrate.

But Rasmus Hojgaard’s improbable run on the back nine, highlighted by a hole-out from the bunker on the 17th hole, pushed the Danish golfer into a lead he maintained to capture his fifth DP World Tour victory.

Hojgaard birdied each of the last three holes and four of the last five to earn the win, finishing at 65 for his final round and 9 under for the tournament.

Meanwhile, McIlroy needed an eagle on the par-5 18th hole to force a playoff and put his second shot to 15 feet, but his putt barely brushed the right edge of the cup and he tapped in for birdie. He finished at 8 under, a stroke ahead of Matteo Manassero.

For Hojgaard, the victory pushed him closer to his goal of qualifying for the 2025 Ryder Cup team.

“I had a number today that I was to reach and that was eight. So obviously coming in and finishing on nine was gold,” Hojgaard said. “I’m so happy. The game has been trending for a while now and just to get this one is massive.

“It couldn’t come at a better time. There are some great events in this part of the season. So yeah, I’m a step closer to my goal now. And  I can’t wait for what the rest of the year has in store.”

Rory McIlroy, seeking 18th DP World Tour win, leads Amgen Irish Open with 18 holes to go

McIlroy was one of just four golfers to break 70 on Saturday.

Rory McIlroy has 17 DP World Tour wins. He’s 18 holes from adding an 18th.

McIlroy tied for low the round of the day on Saturday with a 2-under 69 at Royal County Down in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, at the 2024 Amgen Irish Open.

McIlroy opened with an eagle 3 on the par-5 opening hole for the second day in a row Saturday. He then countered a bogey on the fifth – the third day in a row he’s bogeyed that hole – with a birdie on the seventh. He added another birdie on 13 before four straight pars.

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The last hole, the par-5 18th, was an interesting close to his day. He missed the fairway right, then went left of the fairway with his second, then back across to right of the fairway with his third. His fourth was to four feet but he then missed the putt for par.

Still, he’ll take a one-shot lead into the final round. Playing for the first time since the Tour Championship, McIlroy has been drawing huge crowds all over the golf course in his native Northern Ireland, where he’s seeking his second Irish Open title on home soil.

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“It’s been amazing,” he said after his second round Friday. “I felt like even the crowds today were maybe a little bigger than they were yesterday and it was great. It’s fun to play in an atmosphere like that.”

After his Saturday round, he sounds optimistic but cautious.

“To play a good three days here and be in the final group and give myself a chance tomorrow, I’m excited for the opportunity,” he said. “After the sort of year that I’ve had and the close misses it wouldn’t make up for all of it, but it would go a long way in putting a nice shine on 2024 for me.”

Second-round leader Matteo Manassero, who shot the round of the week with a 66, shot a 1-over 72 on Saturday and slipped to solo second.

Robert MacIntyre and Jordan Smith each shot 2-under 69s to finish among a group of four golfers tied for third at 3 under, three shots back. They joined Adrian Otaegui as the only other golfers besides McIlroy to break 70 on Saturday.

Shane Lowry, who talked Friday of aspirations of playing alongside McIlroy for Sunday’s final round, could only muster a 3-over 74 in the third round and is now tied for 30th.

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.”

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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.