Rory McIlroy Returns To The Winners Circle

Kurt Breidenstein

786 days ago

Rory finally comes through on a Sunday this year winning the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open as the tuneup to next week’s Open Championship at Hoylake. Rory has struggled all year closing out tournaments and after a slow start to his front nine where we went out in 37 he closed with 31 in to shoot a final round 68 which was just enough to defeat fellow Scotsman Robert McIntyre who rallied with a final round 64 to keep things interesting. This is Rory’s second win of the season and his first win on European soil since his win at the 2017 Irish Open.

Rory McIlroy became the first player to complete the National Open Trifecta this weekend 👑

🏆 Open Championship (2014)
🏆 Irish Open (2016)
🏆 Scottish Open (2023)

Absolute dominance. @PGATOUR | @ScottishOpen pic.twitter.com/95eEdwwS10

— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) July 17, 2023

Confidence Returning?

As mentioned, this is only Rory’s second win of the season. He also won the CJ Cup early in the season but has struggled to close out tournaments this season. His wedge game and putter have been his weak points this season and part of it could be between the ears at this point. He has been in contention multiple times this season. His low point of the season was early spring when he missed the cut at The Players Championship and then missed the cut at The Masters. He barely made the cut and finished T47 at The Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow, one of his favorite courses where he typically plays well. He has corrected his struggles of late but finally closed the deal this week in Scotland. He has also dealt with the LIV/PGA fallout before the merger agreement was reached this summer. He was seen as the face of the PGA Tour, whether he wanted to be or not. This win will give him confidence heading into The Open Championship this coming week as he looks to end his major championship drought as he has not won a major since 2014.

The Return To Hoylake

The Open Championship this year will be hosted by Royal Liverpool at Hoylake. This course is full of rich history and has seen some notable names win Open Championships here. Those names include Walter Hagan, Bobby Jones, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. The only Open Championship that Rory won was here at Royal Liverpool in 2014. Rory finished with an aggregate of 271 and -17 to win wire-to-wire with both Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia finishing two shots behind at 273 (-15). Rory has already cancelled his pre-tournament press conference as he wants to pour all his focus and efforts into winning his second Claret Jug and 5^th Major title of his career.

Expectations For The Open Championship

This week showed us what Rory is still capable of when he can put his game together completely. His ball striking and putting returned to championship levels this week. While this was not an elevated event this week, the field was strong, and Rory had to claw his way back into the lead on the back nine where he really got his golf game buttoned up after a slow start on the front nine. This win at The Scottish Open puts Rory back at the top of his game and will, without question, put him at the top of the list of contenders for the 151^st Open Championship. Tee times and pairings have yet to be announced but he should be in a marquee group and with the LIV/PGA drama beginning to unravel with the merger, he should be ready to contend, if not win, his second Claret Jug and return to the top of the golf world.