FROM THE RENAISSANCE CLUB
like Portrush to me. Yes, the stands are up and it looks fantastic, but it’s still the same golf course. “I haven’t played it much over the last few years. I played the new holes just before the Irish Open at Portstewart a couple years ago then played 18 holes in October. “So I was thinking do I really need to re-familiarise myself with this place? How much time do I need to spend? “But when I got on the first tee everything sort of started coming back to me. “On the second tee I knew to aim it at the brown house. Everything started to come back. It felt like just the same old golf course that I grew up playing and that was nice. “I had not seen my mum in three months since Augusta so I made arrangements to go to dinner with her and said, ‘Can we have it about 8pm because I don’t know how much time I’m going to have to spend at Portrush to get my bearings’. “I ended up moving the dinner forward because I didn’t needed to spend as much as time as I thought I did, which I guess is a comforting thing. It’s the same golf course I’ve grown up playing my whole life and it’s the same tournament I haven’t finished outside the top five for the last five years.
“It was great to be back. It’s been a long time in the making and obviously everyone over there is so excited for next week.”
But before that McIlroy insists his focus is firmly fixed on the challenge at hand, which begins at The Renaissance this afternoon in the company of Rickie Fowler and Scottish rookie Robert MacIntyre.
McIlroy said: “Now I’m here I’m fully focused on this event. I think it’s a little disrespectful when people come in and they are treating it as a warm-up.
“Most tournaments deserve to stand on their own two feet and have some stature and the Scottish Open is one of these. It’s a big event, a lot of prize money, a lot of points.
“It deserves to stand alone and not just be this tournament that’s attached on to the week after.
“So I’m fully focused on getting out there and playing well this week and trying to get myself in the mix.”