Scottish links last staged championship 13 years ago
‘It’s one of the best courses on the rota and in the UK’
Rory McIlroy has endorsed Muirfield’s case for an Open revival despite reaching a golfing nadir there when the major was last staged at the Scottish links in 2013.
McIlroy famously declared he felt “unconscious” and “brain dead” while en route to a missed cut in East Lothian 13 years ago. The refusal of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers to admit women – a scenario that changed in 2017 – and the low attendance at Muirfield on that last visit played a part in the absence of the Open. Yet the venue is still rightly regarded as one of the finest in the world.
The R&A has yet to announce Open sites beyond St Andrews in 2027. Muirfield is at least part of that discussion and rightly so, according to McIlroy. “It would be wonderful if it was,” said McIlroy of Muirfield being given the nod again. “I’m not privy to those conversations but Muirfield deserves to be back on the Open rota.
