In this richly successful era of the Irish men's professional game, the return of the Open Championship to Royal Portrush is like a beacon signal that the island of Ireland enjoys a position in the world of golf that really needs to be enjoyed while it lasts.
Six years to the week after the first and last strokes of the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush were struck by Irishmen, there's more than a reasonable level prospect that the same could happen again over the next four days on the beautifully prepared and extraordinarily scenic Dunluce links.
Padraig Harrington, who kick-started the run of 11 Irish major championship victories in the last 18 years, is accorded the honour of striking the first shot of the 153rd Open, but it’s far from being just a ceremonial task in his mind.
"My goal is to hit the first and the last shot this week. I’m sure the bookmakers would tell you that’s not a reality and it might be a longshot to a lot of people, but it feels pretty good to me," the champion in 2007 and 2008 said yesterday after completing his final preparations which included some tentative work on that opening shot.
"I’m still not sure what club I’ll hit," he laughed before adding: "I’ll definitely be very nervous. Anything in play (off the tee) will do me."
More obviously though, the chances of a sixth Irish victory in the Open since 2007 rest primarily with the World No 2 ranked player Rory McIlroy and the World No 18 Shane Lowry.
They have each taken very different approaches to their preparation with McIlroy looking primed again with two strong tournament performances in finishing sixth at the Traveller’s Championship and second in the Scottish Open over the last few weeks - performances which bookended an apparently temporary and well-documented post Masters-victory slump in form and humour.
"I probably just didn’t give myself enough time to let it all sink in but that’s the nature of professional golf. They do a very good job of keeping you on the hamster wheel and you feel like it’s hard to get off at times," he explained this week.
It’s clear that his motivation levels ebbed significantly after winning the Masters but the proximity of the Open being staged in his native Northern Ireland was a big factor in restoring the appetite and edge he needed.
"If someone had told me at the start of the year that you’d be going back to Portrush with your game in good shape; with a chance to win the Open and - oh, by the way - you’ve got a green jacket with you, I’d have taken that," he reasoned.
There’s also a significant added motivation of having an opportunity to have another go at Royal Portrush after his failure to make the cut in 2019.
He had been roared onto the first tee just after 10 am on the Thursday morning six years ago with spectator numbers at their peak. He was unprepared for the emotions such a reception would instil within him and by the time he walked off the first green with a quadruple bogey 8 on his card, his Open was effectively over.
"Personally and selfishly for me, I’m so happy that it’s back here so soon because I want to have another crack at it. I didn’t have the week I wanted back in 2019, but I feel like I’m a way better player now and more equipped to handle everything that this week throws at me from a golfing and emotional perspective."
Emotions were a key element to Shane Lowry’s victory in Royal Portrush in 2019. The scenes on the 18th hole during his walk to an epic success were among the most rapturous in Open Championship history as an Irishman on the island of Ireland, claimed the Claret Jug.
"Look, what I did in 2019 was very special and it’s something that no matter what I do, I’ll always have that," he said this week.
"Growing up as a kid, I wouldn’t have even dreamed that big because a dream that big is normally going to be a let-down.
"I'm probably never going to do that again so I'm not going to try and replicate that. I'm just going to go out and try and play the tournament as well as I can this week. I've prepared well so it's just up to me to stay out of my own way on Thursday morning and go and get after it and see what happens."
In contrast to McIlroy’s competitive preparation, Lowry spent the last few weeks back in his home in Dublin where, along with celebrating his wife Wendy’s 40th birthday with a bit of a family-and-friends 'bash’, he played the links courses of Waterville, Baltray, The Island and Portmarnock to get accustomed to the underfoot and over ground links conditions he’ll likely face over the next four days.
Lowry and McIlroy are both among the obvious favourites this week.
As is Scottie Scheffler, who elevated the normally predictable preview and practice days with his now well-documented ruminations and reservations about victory and success in the press conference room at Portrush on Tuesday.
With eleven tournament victories in the last 16 months including two majors and an Olympic gold medal, the recently turned 29-year-old opened up on the fleeting levels of joy and satisfaction he feels from being the most dominant player in the game since Tiger Woods.
"It’s great to win tournaments. But sometimes the feeling of winning only lasts a few seconds. It’s pretty exciting and fun, but it just doesn’t last that long."
Continuing on his ‘what’s the point’ theme he added:
"I love the challenge. I love being able to play this game for a living. It’s one of the greatest joys of my life, but does it fill the deepest wants and desires of my heart? Absolutely not."
Commenting on Scheffler’s unusually open musings which garnered much praise for his reveal that family life comes first, the reaction of Harrington was an interesting counterpoint.
"I don’t want to compare myself to him (Scheffler) but I genuinely still have a real love for this game. It brings me tremendous satisfaction and just because I love the game doesn’t mean I’m a bad father. They are separate entities," he said.
"I’m not sure what he was trying to articulate and I wouldn’t want to be putting myself in his head, but I know I’m still celebrating my US Open Senior win and it goes on for weeks. Every time somebody says ‘well done’ I get a little bit of acceptance and enjoyment out of it.
"I just love golf. If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be just sitting in front of the Shopping Channel, spilling ice cream on myself and buying packages that I’d never open. So maybe golf is saving my life."
So says the legend of Irish golf who has the honour of hitting the first tee shot in the Open in the morning at 6.35am. He’ll be partnered in the first group on the course by Tom McKibbin. The 2011 Champion Darren Clarke is under way at 7.52 am. Shane Lowry has a mid morning start at 10.09am with McIlroy under way at 3.10pm.
