Rory McIlroy says R&A 'seriously considering' staging Open outside UK

The world number two sang the praises of the north Dublin links following an opening round of 69 in the Horizon Irish Open at The K Club.

“I think they are seriously looking at it. I think it would be fantastic,” McIlroy said.

“I was looking forward to Portrush [in 2025] but (concerned) in terms of how it would do commercially; there’s so many other considerations to hosting a major championship apart from it being a great golf course.

“There has to be a lot of stuff that makes sense, but having a course that’s so close to a major city, so close to a major airport, having a great golf course, I think it would be amazing.”

Portmarnock is eligible to stage R&A events after voting in 2021 to admit women members for the first time in its history, with nine women elected as full members in December last year.

The course will host the 121st Women’s Amateur Championship in 2024, although infrastructure and access could remain an issue for bigger events like The Open.

McIlroy admitted two late birdies helped “gloss over” an average first round at The K Club.

He carded an opening 69 in glorious conditions to lie four shots off leader Shubhankar Sharma.

The world number two bogeyed his first hole of the day and drove into the water on the seventh to lie just one under par with two holes remaining, but holed from 18 feet for birdie on the eighth and four feet on the ninth.