Rory McIlroy will be a firm favorite when The Open returns to Portrush this summer. But for one former tour pro, he won’t be the man to beat.

Rory McIlroy has been told he won’t add another Open to his major haul as the game’s oldest championship heads to his native Northern Ireland this summer.

Royal Portrush will once again host the shootout for the Claret Jug, as the best players in the world descend upon the Dunluce links for a second time in six years following its reintroduction onto the rota.

Shane Lowry sealed a famous victory in 2019 and will be fancied to repeat the feat. But according to the Brian Twite, who has the rather peculiar claim to fame of being last person alive who played in the 1951 Open at Portrush, McIlroy doesn’t have what it takes to overcome the often-brutal nature of links golf.

McIlroy’s sole Open triumph came at a wet and mild Royal Liverpool in 2014, but he also boasts six other top-10 finishes. But he missed the cut at Portrush in ’19 after making a quadruple-bogey eight on the opening hole, and failed to make the weekend at Royal Troon last time out.

Twite also ruled out Adam Scott and Justin Rose – who finished second in brutal conditions at Troon – ever etching their names onto the Claret Jug in an interview with the Telegraph.

“I think Lowry will win again,” Twite, who carded two rounds of 81 to miss the cut back in ’51, said. “He is the best putter and has the perfect game for Portrush.

“I can’t see Rory McIlroy, or Adam Scott or Justin Rose ever winning an Open Championship in the future. They are good at target golf, but they hit the ball too high for links golf. You can’t hit it high at The Open.

“The best players play a low ball.”

Masters mission

For now, though, it is Georgia that will be on his mind as the first men’s major of the year fast approaches.

The 35-year-old will have another chance to complete the career grand slam at the iconic Augusta National and will rightly start as one of the tournament favourites.

McIlroy has been on sublime form in 2025. He won at Pebble Beach in February before capturing the second Players Championship crown of his career.

Naturally, that will have raised expectations that, once again, this is the year he will finally slip into the Green Jacket.

He has already gone on a scouting trip to the famous venue and shared some of his thoughts ahead of the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

“I use those trips just to refamiliarize myself with the place, clubs off tees, looking to see if they changed any greens,” McIlroy explained. “There are four greens that are new this year, that they’ve redone.

“You have a look at those and see if there’s any new hole positions they give you, stuff like that. Apart from that, honestly for me, it’s nice to play a practice round without people around and it sort of takes the pressure off the start of the week for me.

“There’s a lot of obligations, there’s big commitments – whether it be from media or the Par-3 tournament on Wednesday, so I just like to get up there and feel like I’m not rushed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday the week of the tournament.”