Rory McIlroy has played most of the most famous courses in the world. This week, he knocks another one off the list that’s closer to home than most.
McIlroy is the defending champion at the DP World Tour’s Amgen Irish Open, which begins Thursday at Doonbeg in Ireland. The course, under the Trump International Golf Links umbrella, is hosting the Irish Open for the first time, and the world’s No. 2 player had a hand in helping the event get to Doonbeg.
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“The DP World Tour reached out to me and said, do you think Doonbeg will be a suitable venue for The Irish Open. I said, look, I haven’t been there but from all accounts, I hear it’s a very, very good golf course with accommodation onsite,” McIlroy shared Wednesday in a pre-tournament press conference. “The Irish Open has not been in this part of the world in several years, since Lahinch in 2019. I think it would be a good thing.”
Now, the tournament is here, and McIlroy is making his first start since a T-4 finish at the Tour Championship last month in Atlanta. He dished on a variety of topics Wednesday ahead of his title defense. Here’s a breakdown of everything McIlroy said.
LIV dropped news late Tuesday that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, paving the way for what it hopes is the next iteration of the league, LIV 2.0.
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However, whether that actually happens remains to be seen. LIV owes money to hundreds of creditors, with Jon Rahm at the top of the list. With player contracts being broken due to the bankruptcy filing, the door is seemingly wide open now for players to leave and look for what’s next. What Rahm and others do remains to be seen, but McIlroy wouldn’t be surprised with a mass exodus.
“I’m not in their shoes but LIV at the start looked a lot more attractive than what LIV 2.0 might be from a financial standpoint,” McIlroy said. “I’m not trying to predict the future but I would predict that you’ll see some guys leave, as they are free to now as, I guess, contracts have been breached by them filing for bankruptcy. I think that means other tours have decisions to make. And obviously there’s a lot of players on LIV that can strengthen golf tournaments and make them more competitive. So I would see that as a good thing for the DP World Tour.
“And I think the health of the DP World Tour is in a really good spot. They have a wonderful alliance with the PGA Tour. I think that alliance is only going to get stronger, especially with the PGA Tour committing to working with the DP World Tour for some of these international events at this time of the year going forward.
“So you have PGA Tour players really with nothing to do for five months in this period. If they are incorporated or whoever else is incorporated into these tournaments, that makes them more competitive. Overall, you know, I think with the way things are working out, it’s a very good thing for the golf ecosystem. I think it only makes these tournaments stronger with more competitive players in them.”
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The President of the United States is reportedly making his way to Ireland to take in golf this weekend. While McIlroy admits that it is a logistical challenge for the tournament, he thinks it’s a positive for the event.
“There’s a lot that goes into it,” McIlroy said. “They obviously have to lock down a specific area and make sure that it’s safe for him to travel into, and the entire delegation, whoever that is. Logistically, it provides a bit of a challenge but we are at one of his properties that he has kindly provided for us to play a golf tournament.
“I said yesterday, the President of the United States wants to come watch a little bit of golf. I think we are all happy to be here, grateful to be here. His presence at The Irish Open makes it a truly international event. That brings more attention and eyeballs to The Irish Open, and it can only be a good thing.
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“I don’t know what the protocol will be on Saturday when the President arrives. Look, is it a little disruptive to play? Absolutely. But again, there’s protocols in place for a reason, and all we can do is follow them and abide by them, and whenever we’re ready to play again, we put our heads down and we go and play.”
McIlroy has seven Race to Dubai titles, the DP World Tour’s season-long prize, the second-most of all-time. Colin Montgomerie is the only golfer with more (8), and McIlroy has made it clear for some time his goal is to catch Monty.
McIlroy has a heavy DP World Tour schedule the next couple months. Sitting second behind Patrick Reed, McIlroy has his eyes on raising another trophy in Dubai come November.
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“I’ve made a lot of effort over the last few years to, I guess, really focus on this part of of the season. Yeah, I think part of that is being in contention for The Race to Dubai again and try to equal Monty, and I’ve been pretty successful in terms of that over the last few years,” McIlroy said. “There’s a lot of events that are very meaningful to me; The Irish Open, next week at Wentworth – we have a home there. The Middle East has always been a place that’s been good to me; and the Australian Open, as well, a tournament that is very special to me. I love going down to Australia. It would be wonderful to get down there and play last year and looking forward to doing that again this year.
“To me, it’s a very competitive part of the season for me but it’s also a very fun part of of the season. There’s a lot to look forward to.”
The Masters started rewarding invites to winners of several National Opens, but the Irish Open was not one of those. McIlroy was asked if he thought the tournament deserved to be one of those earning a spot at Augusta National every April.
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“What do you think? Of course. I spoke to Chairman [Fred] Ridley about this a lot and I really applaud their dedication to international golf and getting behind some of the international opens,” McIlroy said. “Obviously the Asia-Pacific Amateur, the Latin America Amateur Championship, they have done great jobs with them and it give these exemptions to these larger national Opens, I would certainly sit there and argue The Irish Open’s case with Fred, all day. I think, hopefully, at some point, it’s inevitable that that would become a reality.”
Cameron Jourdan is an assistant editor of Golfweek, covering college and amateur golf, the PGA Tour and plenty more. Follow Cameron on X/Twitter (@Cam_Jourdan) or Instagram (@GolfweekJourdan).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Rory McIlroy dishes on LIV 2.0, Trump and more ahead of Irish Open title defense
