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?

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Adding to the many cool sights at Royal Portrush's historic links this week was the British Open leaderboard showing Danish twins Rasmus and Nicolai Hojgaard in the top 10.

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.

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.

By the time Rory McIlroy finished his first practice round for the British Open at Royal Portrush, a big crowd that weathered rain and sunshine was waiting to see him finish.

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.

This is about the Open, a championship in its 153rd year. And it’s about Portrush, a seasonal town of 6,000 or so, one with a Ferris wheel and a long swath of beach, and dogs off leashes, and a gem of a links course that’s carved its place in the Open rota. And it’s about Irish golf.

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.