When the Open returned to Royal Portrush in 2019, a great deal of ink was spent explaining why it hadn’t visited Northern Ireland in 68 years.

Tens of thousands of people turned out for day two of the tournament, with some of the biggest crowds cheering for local hero Rory McIlroy as well as Dubliner Shane Lowry who scooped the Claret Jug the last time the Open came to Portrush in 2019.

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The Dunluce Course, site of the 2025 British Open, scores high among Golfweek's Best course raters. But is it the best on the island?

Rory McIlroy’s walk up the 18th hole at Royal Portrush six years ago was the cruelest of sneak previews. A chance to see what it might look like, what it might feel like. The crowd surrounding the final green during the second round of the 2019 Open Championship welcomed the then 30-year-old with an applause that only your own can produce.

Rory McIlroy shot 1-under 70 in the first round of the British Open at Royal Portrush that is also serving as a homecoming for the Northern Irish star.

In 2019, it was the first-ever sold-out Open. It was a hugely significant moment for Northern Ireland after a troubled past.

Erskine, the club’s then-secretary of 35 years—who many credit with bringing the Open to Portrush—was waiting for a defining moment. Some visual cue from the universe to signify the accomplishment that Portrush, after decades of political turmoil on the island of Ireland before a peace in 1998, had enticed the R&A back to this part of the world.