Rory McIlroy, Gary Woodland and Paul Casey (10:09 a.m./3:10 p.m.)
Northern Ireland native Rory McIlroy has fond memories of Royal Portrush. After all, it was here, while still a teenager, that McIlroy first attracted the attention of the golfing world.
In 2005, a then 16-year-old McIlroy shot a course record 61 at the venue that’s just 100 kilometers from his hometown of Holywood. Even after all these years and the accolades he’s earned in his professional career, McIlroy still admits he remembers every shot from that memorable round.
“It doesn’t feel like 13 years ago, but when you look back at the footage, it does feel like 13 years ago,” he told TheOpen.com in May. “Whenever I look back at Royal Portrush, links golf and my development I always think about that round of golf.”
McIlroy heads into this year’s Open Championship in the kind of form needed to recreate that type of magic. He’s only finished outside the top-10 twice in 13 events on the PGA Tour this season, winning both the Players Championship and the RBC Canadian Open. He leads the tour in driving, strokes gained: tee-to-green and total strokes gained. The 2014 champion has also finished in the top-10 at the Open in his last four appearances, missing only 2015 with an injury.
For the first time in his career, Gary Woodland comes into a major championship as the last player to win one. His win at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach last month, holding off a run at history by Brooks Koepka, set off a whirlwind media tour for the native Kansan.
It showed in his next start when he missed the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Woodland had one of his best performances on the greens at Pebble Beach, ranking second in the field in strokes gained: putting, a big improvement from the 111th he’s ranked on tour this season. Woodland, though, has never finished inside the top-10 in seven appearances at the Open.
Englishman Paul Casey won his third PGA Tour title earlier this season at the Valspar Championship, but he hasn’t been in the top-10 here since 2010.