Is Rory McIlroy’s relationship with the Irish Open a marriage of convenience?

In his winner’s press conference at the 2016 Irish Open, Rory McIlroy spoke lovingly about the event, not dwelling on the years when the scheduling was awkward and his body language suggested other feelings.

He told a story about flying home from a youth tournament in Germany, 20 years ago now, and as the plane made its descent towards Dublin Airport the Irish Open at Portmarnock had just finished.

Sitting next to his mother, Rosie, they could see the crowds dispersing, and after all this time he could still remember the fantasy that flashed into his head. When it came true at The K Club, 13 years later, McIlroy’s elation on the 18th green had a visceral quality, beyond the usual puffs of a winner’s joy.

“My mum was more emotional after that win than anything else,” McIlroy said a few months later. “It’s the one tournament that my mother wanted me to win, or to see me win, before anything else . . .There’s other tournaments that people would deem more important, but those other tournaments haven’t meant as much to me as the Irish Open.”

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McIlroy was the tournament host that year, and by various means – including donating his first prize – about a million euro was raised for three causes that were supported by his charitable foundation. It was clear from his remarks in the press conference how much all of that had added to the week and his triumph. In every sense, it completed the victory.

“When we started the Rory Foundation this wasn’t some plan that we had from the start,” McIlroy said. “It was more me thinking, ‘How can I go to the Irish Open and it mean something more?’ Not just going and spending a week on a golf course somewhere and trying to play the best that I can, but give me a reason to go back every year – not just for myself, but for other people. So, that was the reason in the end. I wanted a real, fulfilling reason to go back every year and give it my all.”

In the same answer he also said he wanted to make the Irish Open “one of the best tournaments in the world,” which might have been something uttered in the hot flush of winning. Just three years later, and again last year, McIlroy couldn’t find room for it on his tournament schedule.

McIlroy’s assertion that he wanted “a real, fulfilling reason to go back every year” resonated with his attitude to the tournament before he became the host.

In the early part of his career McIlroy invariably turned up, and his presence was critical in years when the pre-publicity for the tournament was pegged on the drawing power of the Irish players, and very little else. But, with the exception of Royal Portrush in 2012, it never looked like McIlroy was having a ball.

At Royal County Down in 2015 – his first year as host – McIlroy gave a very frank interview to Greg Allen on RTÉ radio, describing his conflicted relationship with the event.

“Honestly, I was starting to find that it was a little bit of a problem in the schedule,” he said, “in terms of I wasn’t really enjoying it. I didn’t really want to come back and play. I wasn’t in a good place with it.”

Anybody who had witnessed his demeanour at Fota Island a year earlier, or in Killarney in 2011, would have reached that conclusion without any confessions from McIlroy. Recruiting him as tournament host was a masterstroke by the European Tour. More than McIlroy’s presence the tournament desperately needed him to make a significant emotional investment. For McIlroy, hitching the event to his charitable foundation was the incentive he needed to become engaged.

As host, McIlroy was terrific. The tournament at Royal County Down was sprinkled with more stardust than any Irish Open had been for decades. Three weeks earlier McIlroy won at Quail Hollow, and in his snap interview on the 18th green McIlroy said that the Irish Open was his “fifth Major” that season. He had never spoken about the tournament in those terms before.

An event that had fallen to mid-table in the European Tour’s second-tier was revitalised, first by McIlroy’s charismatic patronage, and later by the financial commitment of Dubai Duty Free and Rolex.

But as soon as he was no longer the host, McIlroy distanced himself again. In November 2018 he announced that he might only play two events on the European Tour the following year, and the Irish Open might not be one of them. It didn’t suit his build-up to the British Open, even though its place in the schedule was no different – still two weeks before the British Open.

“Everyone has to look out for themselves, and next year I’m looking out for me,” said McIlroy in November 2018, which was at odds with all the sentiments he had expressed in The K Club, just two years earlier.

As it turned out he played five events on the European Tour in 2019, but not the Irish Open. Last year he played six events on what is now the DP World Tour, but not the Irish Open. It didn’t fit his schedule.

This year? The Irish Open is two months later, a fortnight after the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour, and a week before the DP World Tour’s flagship event at Wentworth. For McIlroy, the Irish Open was convenient again.

To retain membership of the DP World Tour the tour’s so-called global players are only required to play four tournaments, outside of the Majors and co-sanctioned events. If one of those tournaments is not in their home country, they must play another event somewhere else. For obvious reasons, the DP World Tour really want the biggest stars to play on home soil.

The build-up to the Irish Open has been low-key. During the pandemic the tournament lost its status on the Rolex Series but gained a committed sponsor in Horizon. The field is decent, but nothing special; just seven of the world’s top 50 appear on the entry list, including the world number 49, Billy Horschel.

McIlroy tops the bill, naturally. Back at The K Club, the scene of his joyous triumph. Maybe he can recover those feelings. Above all else, the Irish Open needs the passion of the Irish players. It is fundamental to its make-up. Without that, what is it?