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

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, but it's not on the island of Great Britain. So why is it hosting the “British” Open this week?

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.

Dealing with that adulation’s attendant pressure is what McIlroy failed to do in missing the cut in 2019, infamously hooking his tee shot left and out of bounds; his radar left askew by the emotional punch of the ovation that met him on the first tee.

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.

While Turnberry, Royal Lytham and Muirfield are all waiting to welcome back the world’s oldest major championship after last hosting it in 2009, 2012 and 2013 respectively, Royal Portrush has gone from being in the wilderness,

Lowry feels “rejuvenated” and as prepared as he could be in his bid to become the first player to win consecutive British Opens at the same course since Tiger Woods at St. Andrews in 2000 and ’05.