Hello friends and happy Tuesday from Royal Portrush! After a long travel day Monday, I have officially made it to my first Open Championship. I flew into Dublin and drove to Portrush with my coworkers, but not before stopping in Holywood, Rory McIlroy’s hometown, for a coffee, a croissant and a walk. We could not have arrived on a more perfect day weather-wise, so we made sure to soak in every last minute before the sun set.
After walking around town on Monday evening, we went out to dinner at the Port Hotel, where I began my week-long journey of weaning myself on to beer.
As you can see, that endeavor isn’t going particularly well. After dinner, we went on a sunset walk and scouted out some spots to grab ice cream later in the week.
I know it’s early on, but my favorite thing so far is how the town makes me feel like I’m back on a college campus. The golf world is very small, so we keep bumping into friends wherever we go. Our 20-minute walk to the course each morning feels like walking to class. Our group of five are all carrying backpacks as we pick up some friends along the way. I’ve seen agents, players, caddies and other media members on the sidewalk making the same trek as us, and it’s as if we’ve transplanted our small golf community to Northern Ireland for the week.
There’s art, murals and various nods to professional golfers all over Portrush. Lots of stores have images of Rory McIlroy in their windows, and there’s the famous mural of Shane Lowry right by the entrance to town.
One coffee and ice cream shop even went so far as to change its name for the week, and they got creative with their menu as well.
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I won’t lie: it took me a minute to figure out that the MatchaKawa was named after Collin Morikawa.
After picking up my credential, getting settled in at the media center and having a quick breakfast, I headed out with my coworker and pal, Dylan Dethier, to follow the group of Northern Irishmen who teed off early this morning. Rory McIlroy, Darren Clark and Tom McKibbin had massive crowds following along early in the day.
Something I will say I noticed very quickly is how polite the young fans are. I’ve gotten used to hearing kids scream requests at players at other events, demanding autographs, golf balls and sometimes even clothing. Here, they politely (and actually pretty quietly) say things like, “excuse me Mr. McIlroy! Would you please sign this?” Manners — it’s refreshing!
After our morning stroll around the back nine, I headed back toward the media center for Scottie Scheffler’s press conference, and I’m so glad I did. I went into the presser thinking about golf and I left thinking about life.
Scheffler talked about how fleeting the high moments of golf are, and how he often finds himself searching for the why behind it all. Here were two of my favorite lines from the whole thing:
“You win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sister’s there, it’s such an amazing moment. Then it’s like, okay, what are we going to eat for dinner? Life goes on.”
“We work so hard for such little moments. I’m kind of sicko; I love putting in the work. I love getting to practice. I love getting to live out my dreams. But at the end of the day, sometimes I just don’t understand the point … It’s just one of those deals. 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.”
I think this mindset can apply to any work or aspect of life, not just professional sports. If golf doesn’t work out for the World No. 1, I could definitely see him becoming a philosopher.
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