Golf - The 153rd Open Championship - Royal Portrush Golf Club, Portrush, Northern Ireland, Britain - July 17, 2025 Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy reacts during the first round REUTERS/Paul Childs
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (Reuters) -It was ugly at times and he barely located a fairway but Rory McIlroy's homecoming party at Royal Portrush this time did not go as flat as a pint of stale Guinness as he scrambled to an opening-round 70 at the British Open on Thursday.
Six years after putting his opening tee shot out of bounds and racking up a quadruple bogey on his way to dream-wrecking round of 79, five-times major champion McIlroy returned to the Dunluce Links intent on banishing the demons of 2019.
