Rory McIlroy Open Championship odds

Rory McIlroy bids for a second major of the year as he returns to Northern Ireland for the 153rd Open Championship.

McIlroy will be desperate to improve on his previous outing at Royal Portrush in 2019; the home favourite carded a shocking 79 in the opening round to sit 14 shots back of the lead. Despite improving by 14 shots the following day, McIlroy's course-record round of 65 saw him miss the weekend by one shot.

McIlroy's record at the oldest major is very all-or-nothing. In the three years after his 2014 win, McIlroy finished T5, T4 and T2 before missing the cut in 2019 and finishing T46 in 2021.

In 15 appearances at The Open, McIlroy has finished in the top six seven times and outside the top 40 seven times. His recent form on the PGA Tour doesn't lend many clues, either.

After a superb start to the season in which McIlroy won the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Players Championship and a first US Masters, the Northern Irishman has struggled in the last couple of months.

McIlroy, alongside Shane Lowry, finished a distant T12 at the Zurich Classic before finishing seventh at the Truist Championship. Returning to Quail Hollow, the site of four PGA Tour wins, McIlroy finished T47 at the PGA Championship and missed the cut at the Canadian Open in what was arguably the worst performance of his professional career.

McIlroy didn't fare all that much better at Oakmont for the US Open, with an excellent final round masking a poor week. Another strong Sunday propelled McIlroy up the leaderboard at the Travelers Championship, but McIlroy hasn't come close to lifting more silverware since his US Masters win.

He admitted he'd struggled for motivation in the aftermath of his US Masters success, but also said if he can't get up for an Open Championship in Northern Ireland, he wasn't sure what he could get up for.

Liam Williams

• • 
  •