Frustrated Northern Irish golf fans had to wait several generations for the R&A to esteem it with the honour of hosting a second Open Championship in 2019, almost 70 years after one Herbert Gustavus ‘Max’ Faulkner won the first at Royal Portrush back in 1951. A 21-year-old Peter Thomson also played in his first Open Championship that year.

On this occasion however, a wait of six years will have been considered a blink a smiling eye with Royal Portrush’s Dunluce course to again challenge the world’s best in the year’s fourth and final major championship. And in doing so, the eyes of the world will again be captivated by the grandeur of a seaside links set among towering dunes that are unrivalled by any on the regular Open rota.

Battered as they were both physically and very much mentally by a return to an overtly penal U.S. Open course setup at Oakmont, it will be fascinating to see how the world’s best players are able to respond from one major to the next. ‘Glory’s Last Shot’ until 2026.

The setting of Harry Colt’s masterpiece alone will be soothing to the souls of every entrant, even if those that struggle might take time to fully appreciate the experience post-Championship.

Harry Colt crafted a masterpiece on Northern Ireland's northern shores. PHOTO: Getty Images.

Portrush’s majestic locale along a northern coast littered with staggering landscapes and historic landmarks was a perfect backdrop to an Open of epic proportions in 2019, not the least highlighted by the breakthrough win of ‘one of their own’ in Ireland’s Shane Lowry.

Lowry was simply outstanding in victory, playing masterful links golf in wicked final round conditions to best his friend and Ryder Cup colleague Tommy Fleetwood by six strokes. The celebrations in his home county of Offaly to the south in Ireland were reportedly of equally epic proportions and are no doubt rekindled each time he returns.     

Getting to host the championship in these parts at all was a triumph for local resident and 2011 Open champion Darren Clarke, who had the honour of hitting the opening tee shot having campaigned passionately behind the scenes for The Open to be brought back to his country.

Shane Lowry's 2019 win was outstanding. PHOTO: Getty Images.

Another local product in Graeme McDowell – 2010 U.S. Open winner and 2000 Irish Amateur Close champion at Portrush -  used his desire to make the field as a catalyst to return to the winner’s circle on the PGA TOUR that year, while the nation’s favourite golfing son, Rory McIlroy, suffered the start from hell with his much anticipated first strike in a home Open nervously pull hooked out of bounds from the first tee. 

In that year, a new attendance record for The Open was set with 237,500 fans descending on the remote coastal villages of Country Antrim. And while the 2025 Championship sales will not exceed the record set at St Andrews in 2022, the R&A have reported that the 153rd Open will be the largest sporting event ever held in Northern Ireland with a cap of 278,000 tickets sold from a ballot that exceeded 1 million in interest.

Rory McIlroy searches for his ball on the 1st at Royal Portrush in 2019. PHOTO: Getty Images.

In addition, 89,000 spectators will attend the four sold-out practice days, exceeding the 61,000 fans who attended the equivalent days at Royal Portrush in 2019.

A fair proportion of them will of course have their eyes firmly fixed on McIlroy, who has arguably and quite reasonably experienced somewhat of a Masters and Grand Slam victory ‘hangover’ in the months since his astounding playoff win over Justin Rose in April.

That hangover is not literally of the chemically induced kind, of course, despite Lowry securing a case of Chateau Lafite Rothschild from Augusta National’s cellar to kickstart the celebrations on Sunday night. However, the widely held presumption that the victory would serve to immediately lift the shackles after years dreaming of donning the Green Jacket has been off the mark to date.

It’s fair to say the ensuing months have been a battle for him in terms of his physical performances and a somewhat edgy demeanour both on and off the golf course, and particularly so with the media.

McIlroy has arrived home and is understandably the man that the locals want to see win. PHOTO: Getty Images.

Still, rising over the crest of the nearby hills to get his first glimpse of Portrush has never failed to get McIlroy’s juices flowing. The scrutiny of the masses on site and around the globe aside, the staging of The Open at Royal Portrush – let alone his second place finish at the Scottish Open last week - might be just the tonic needed to reignite his spirits, an opportunity to embrace a rare ‘home game’ around Harry Colt’s revered links that he has loved since his early days.         

If that doesn’t bring a smile to his face, surely having to drive through the town past the enormous mural of 2019 champion and his personal sommelier in Lowry grinning back at him will do the trick? Regardless, McIlroy has said that he can’t wait to get back to Portrush to settle some ‘unfinished business from last time’, where he missed the cut.

Cam Smith has denied McIlroy once in this championship. Can he do it again? PHOTO: Getty Images.

Nine Australians – including 2022 champion Cameron Smith – and a white-hot Kiwi in Ryan Fox will be among the 150 odd players hoping to deny him, world number one Scottie Scheffler and American Xander Schauffele, who will be back to defend after brilliantly winning not only The Open at Troon but also the PGA Championship in 2024.

These triumphs were just rewards for a player who is amassing a major championship consistency record to tell his grandkids about – just three missed cuts in 33 appearances since debuting in 2017. A successful defence would see him emulate another Irishman in Padraig Harrington, who achieved the feat 2007-08, succeeding Tiger Woods who had done the same in 2005-06.