Organisers of The Open golf championship at Portrush delivered a highly successful event in a land scorched by recent sporting failure. The collapse of plans to host matches in football's Euro 2028 tournament in Belfast damaged Northern Ireland's reputation in the world of sport.

How to watch every single shot from the biggest names in golf throughout Round 4 at the 2025 Open Championship

Rory McIlroy carded a 2-under 69 in the second round of The Open to give him back-to-back under-par rounds and, most importantly, a tee time on the weekend.

In post-round interviews, especially during bigger tournaments, you'll often hear tour pros say they plan to go back to their hotels or rental homes and get their minds off golf. For some that may mean playing with the kids,

The Northern Ireland native picked up a ball from the thick rough, held it out in front of him and burst out laughing. While hitting a shot, he unearthed another ball.

With one swish of his wedge, McIlroy not only hit his designated ball out of the rough to the right of the fairway on the 11th hole but also dug out another ball that had been buried underneath the turf, unbeknownst to him.

McIlroy has used two caddies during his professional golf career. His first was named J.P. Fitzgerald, who he had on his bag until 2017. McIlroy then switched to Harry Diamond, who has been his caddie over the last eight years.