Rory McIlroy may be the headliner at this week's Amgen Irish Open, but he's not the only one.
For the first time since 2015, the Royal County Down Golf Links, considered one of the best golf courses in the world, will host a DP World Tour event. This will be the fourth time the Newcastle course in Northern Ireland has hosted the Irish Open, following successes in 1928, 1935 and 2015. It has also hosted several notable amateur championships, including the 2007 Walker Cup, which attracted several future major champions and PGA Tour standouts, including Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Webb Simpson.
Royal County Down Golf Course has been ranked number one in Golf Digest’s latest list of the world’s 100 best golf courses. It was also ranked number one on Golfweek’s list of the best international golf courses for 2024 and number six on Golf.com’s list of the world’s 100 best golf courses for 2023-24.
McIlroy is joined this week by Shane Lowry, Bob MacIntyre, Nicolai Hojgaard and Tom McKibbin, 21, who grew up at Holywood Golf Club outside Belfast with McIlroy.
