For years, the character tension surrounding Rory McIlroy emerged four times per season.
As his major drought stretched on and on, and his quest for the career Grand Slam grew less and less likely with each Masters loss, McIlroy’s mental battles always came into focus — whether it was a new approach, a gutting collapse or an untimely injury.
Then, in April, he finally did it. McIlroy won the Masters, becoming just the sixth player ever to achieve the career Grand Slam. You could see what it meant throughout his roller-coaster final round, and especially as he collapsed on the 18th green after the winning putt dropped.
In the minutes, hours and weeks that followed, it was pure jubilation.
But when the second major of the season rolled around — the PGA Championship in May — McIlroy struggled, barely made the cut and refused to talk to media on any of the four days amid news that his driver had been deemed non-conforming.
Soon after, he skipped The Memorial — a signature event hosted by Jack Nicklaus that he hadn’t missed since 2017.
And so when he stepped to the podium for his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, ahead of the RBC Canadian Open, there were plenty of questions.
Namely — why was he here?
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“It means a lot. I haven’t, I guess, hidden my aspirations for national opens and where I would like them to be, what their standing is in the professional game of golf. So this has meant a lot,” McIlroy said.
Since 2019, McIlroy has made a habit of playing the Canadian Open, even as it’s bounced around a bit on the schedule.
In Canada, his results — win, win, T9, T4 — speak for themselves, but there’s also the added bonus of U.S. Open prep. The third major of the season begins next Thursday at Oakmont Country Club in Philadelphia.
“Before playing in this event, 2016, 2017, 2018, I missed three cuts in a row at the U.S. Open, and since playing the Canadian Open the week before, I’ve had six top 10s in a row. So there’s something to that,” he said.
“But then obviously playing in front of the Canadian fans and everything that goes along with that and the enthusiasm, you guys only get to see this sort of golf once a year, so I think once it does come along, it’s really appreciated.”
Defending champion Robert MacIntyre used the Canadian Open as a springboard last year, going on to win his own national open in Scotland a few weeks later.
MacIntyre called national opens “huge” when he met with media on Tuesday.
“There’s a lot of Canadian players here this week obviously wanting to win the Canadian Open. Everyone’s wanting to win this week, but it just adds an extra incentive for the Canadian guys because it’s the Canadian Open, and I think the crowd also builds on that,” MacIntyre said.
“National opens are a massive part of the game. I just wish that we’d done more to promote a lot more national opens.”
Also in the field are a slew of McIlroy’s fellow European Ryder Cuppers in MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose and Ludvig Aberg. They are all decent bets to return to the team for the September competition in New York.
“I think a lot of the European guys like to play the week before a major,” McIlroy said. “But I think for the most part, [the Canadian Open has] become a very, very good tournament, and I think because of that, and you see guys playing each and every year, I think the field then starts to become stronger because you see your peers do something, and we’re all sort of like sheep out here.”
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For McIlroy himself, the Canadian Open this year is acting as a “reset” on a season that saw early wins at famed courses like Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass before his Masters triumph.
Now, he’s looking forward to a second half that will include next week’s U.S. Open and July’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush, which will be contested in his home country of Northern Ireland.
Where he wanted to play was the Canadian Open, even as speculation piled up over his absences at PGA Championship post-round media and the Memorial entirely.
Now, those questions have been put to rest. McIlroy is back at a tournament with which he’s become synonymous, and the two-time winner is looking to make it three.
“Anytime you start to rack up multiple wins in places, especially with a trophy like the Canadian Open and the names that are on that trophy, there’s not many that are on it three times, so yeah, it would be very cool,” McIlroy said.
“I’d love to get myself in the mix at the weekend and have an opportunity to do that. It would be the perfect way to end the week and with one eye going towards the U.S. Open.”
