Can Portrush return light Rory McIlroy’s fire? – Open Championship talking points

Royal Portrush will host the 153rd Open Championship for only the third time in its history.

Six years ago Irishman Shane Lowry made his major breakthrough, a popular winner once home favourite Rory McIlroy missed the cut.

Here, we look at this year’s event in Northern Ireland.

Finally ending his long quest for a career grand slam with a win at Augusta has had its drawbacks, with the sharpness disappearing from Rory McIlroy’s game and his driving and approach shots suffering the most. The Northern Irishman will be well aware when the Open came back to Portrush – where he shot a course-record 61 as a 16-year-old – he tried too hard at his ‘home’ major. He missed the cut by a stroke after a first-round blow-up despite shooting 65 on the Friday. Feeding off the emotion and not succumbing to it will be key.

Not since Nick Faldo lifted his third Claret Jug at Muirfield in 1992 has an Englishman won the Open. However, the chances look as slim as ever this year. Tommy Fleetwood is the country’s top-ranked player at 13 and finished second on this course in 2019. There are only three other Englishmen in the top 50: Tyrrell Hatton, Justin Rose and Aaron Rai. Considering the average ranking of the last 10 champions is 13, it would look like an English triumph would have to buck the trend.

Statistics help narrow down the contenders, not withstanding a Ben Curtis-type shock. The average world ranking of champions since 2000 is 37 – skewed by world number 396 Curtis – but every winner since 2012 has been inside the top 30. This century, Tiger Woods is the only world number one to lift the Claret Jug, in 2000, 2005 and 2006 – which would appear to rule out Scottie Scheffler. Last year’s champion Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth and