When Rory McIlroy walked into the Association of Golf Writers’ dinner at Royal Portrush Golf Club on Tuesday, he was wearing the Green Jacket he won at the Masters in April, a short haircut and a broad smile.
He was Relaxed Rory again, the happy version of himself. After he had been presented with a trophy for Golfer of the Year, he made a joke about how he wanted to make sure he turned up for the event because he knew how exercised journalists had become about his recent habit of skipping press conferences.
And he laughed when someone made a comment about the severity of his new trim and the flecks of grey that suddenly seem more evident in his dark hair. ‘It’s just a summer cut,’ he said. ‘It’ll grow back. It’s going a little grey, but I’ve still got the right genes.’
McIlroy would have been the No 1 attraction at the 153rd playing of the Open this week whether he had won at Augusta or not, but the exhilarating, riveting and breathlessly dramatic nature of his victory has made him more of a homecoming hero than ever before.
As he walked the course for his practice rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday, he was like the Pied Piper of the sport, thousands trailing in his wake, hanging on every shot and gesture. Shane Lowry may have won here in 2019, the second time the Open was played on this magnificent course, but McIlroy is the biggest box-office draw.
That triumph at Augusta cemented his place in golfing history, making him one of only six players to have won the career Grand Slam and ending a quest that had obsessed him throughout his career.
McIlroy basked in his Masters triumph back in April but arrives at Royal Portrush still wrestling with the pressure that follows him
McIlroy would have been the No 1 attraction at the 153rd playing of the Open this week
McIlroy focuses on his shot determined to embrace the pressure at Royal Portrush
If he were to win here in his native Northern Ireland this weekend, a weekend that promises more testing conditions — or what one course marshal described to me as ‘our normal summer weather’ — he would draw level with Sir Nick Faldo as the European golfer with the most victories in majors.
But one of the things that makes following McIlroy so compelling is that you never quite know which version of him you are going to get, either on the course or when he is talking to the media. He is nothing if not unpredictable. That adds to his charisma and his draw.
It may not be Happy Rory who turns up on the first tee this afternoon to begin his first round. Many assumed that the Masters win would unburden and liberate him in his pursuit of more Grand Slams, but it has not worked out like that yet.
McIlroy was fretful and sullen for swathes of his appearances at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, where he was annoyed by the revelation that he had been asked to change a non-conforming driver, and also at the US Open at Oakmont, where he struggled to make the cut.
He hurled a club down the fairway at Oakmont and smashed a tee box in frustration at an errant drive, while generally giving the impression he would rather be doing anything but playing the tournament.
‘It’s funny, it’s much easier being on the cut line when you don’t really care if you’re here for the weekend or not,’ he said when he finally broke his silence. ‘I was sort of thinking, ‘Do I really want two more days here or not?’
It was also at the US Open where he told journalists, ‘I feel like I’ve earned the right to do whatever I want to do’. Many were puzzled by the sense of entitlement that suddenly seemed to be pouring out of him. It seems to have disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived.
Whether the improvement in his demeanour can protect him from a repeat of the first-hole horrors that destroyed his hopes here in 2019, and ultimately led to him missing the cut, is another matter.
One of the things that makes following McIlroy so compelling is that you never quite know which version of him you are going to get
McIlroy acknowledges the crowd on the fourth green during a practice round
That first hole was bathed in sunshine on Wednesday afternoon. It felt deceptively serene and welcoming. A couple of marshals pointed me to the spot where McIlroy’s ball had flown over the faint, white, out-of-bounds line after he hooked his tee shot and smashed a woman’s mobile phone out of her hands.
It didn’t make it quite as far as the forest of bracken and nettles that lurks a little further to the left, but his second tee shot flirted with the sweet-briars and their pretty pink flowers that sit a little further on. McIlroy took eight on that first hole.
‘I’ll probably stand on the first tee and think about the first shot I hit in 2019 and try not to do anything like that again,’ he said. ‘I have a spotlight on me most weeks that I play, but obviously it’s magnified in a week like this.
‘I want to try to embrace that this time, enjoy being in this position rather than try to ignore it and just go about my business. The reception I’ve had has made this week a celebration of what I’ve achieved in my career, but it’s also an opportunity that I want to embrace with open arms.
‘I’ve done everything I wanted to do in the game, but I still want to do a lot more. I said after Augusta it would free me up, but I still have the same desire when I’m on the course.
‘In theory, I suppose I shouldn’t feel the same tension I felt before I won the Masters, but in practicality it probably doesn’t work like that. I’m still the same fierce competitor and I still want to win.’
And so we wait to see which McIlroy will turn up, Happy Rory or Angry Rory, Brilliant Rory or Miss-the-Cut Rory, Green Jacket Rory or Bracken-and-Briar Rory.
Only one thing is assured — when you watch McIlroy play golf, you’d better not look away.
