Rory McIlroy admits winning a medal for Ireland in the Paris Olympics would be the biggest achievement of his career since he claimed the most recent of his four Majors ten years ago.
The World No.3 tees it up at Le Golf National with Shane Lowry this week looking to improve on his performance in Tokyo in 2021, when he lost out in a bronze medal Play-Off, and bounce back from his missed cut in The Open.
“It would be the achievement, certainly of the year, if not – I think for me, it’s well documented that I haven’t won one of the big four in ten years,” McIlroy said. “It would probably be one of, if not the biggest in my career for the last ten years.”
Lowry, who was one of Ireland’s flagbearers at the opening ceremony, said he’s excited to try and win gold after the disappointment of The Open at Royal Troon, where he held a three-shot lead early in the third round but slipped to sixth behind Xander Schauffele.
“It would be better than silver,” Lowry joked. “Yeah, look, I felt I had a good chance to win The Open a couple of weeks ago, and I was really disappointed not to give it a better go on Saturday and Sunday.
“Straightaway after that, I sort of felt like I have a chance to redeem myself here in a couple of weeks.
“For me, look, if you look at the media and what it was like back home yesterday when Mona (McSharry) won that bronze medal, I think if I was to win a gold medal and bring it back to Ireland, yeah, it would be pretty cool.”
Having won the Zurich Classic with McIlroy earlier this year, Lowry joked that he’s disappointed there is no foursomes.
“I’m just disappointed I’m not going to be hitting off Rory’s drives this week, playing as a team,” Lowry said.
“Yeah, I would like to think we are good for each other when we are around each other. I would like to think we are both going to perform pretty well this week.”
After missing the cut by five strokes in The Open, McIlroy is determined to put in a performance at the scene of Europe’s 2018 Ryder Cup win.
He played the Old Course on Monday in his first round since shooting scores of 78 and 75 at The Open but was in no mood to explain why he chose the Home of Golf.
“Yeah, none of your business why I was there but it’s always nice to play St Andrews,” McIlroy said when asked why he chose St Andrews, where he was ribbed by American tourists as he finished his game.
“Yeah, it was good. I wasn’t expecting quite the crowd on the last few holes that we got but it was good. That was the first game of golf I’ve had since Troon. I thought at least one game of golf before I got here was probably beneficial.”
The Co Down man is determined to put in a good performance after extending his major drought to ten years at Troon.
“I’d say my focus is pretty high,” said McIlroy. “The last time you guys saw me, I didn’t give a very good account of myself at Troon. I want to make sure I’m right where I need to be teeing off on Thursday.
“Again, I’ve been asked this question a lot, where would an Olympic medal sit in sort of the hierarchy of my career achievements and it’s something I probably won’t be able to answer until when everything is said and done.
“I think as golf is in the Olympics for a longer period of time, it will become more of… I don’t know if anything will be able to sit alongside the Majors.
“We have our four events a year that are the gold standard. But I think this is, in time, going to be right up there amongst that.”
Lowry shared the flag bearing duties with Sarah Lavin at the opening ceremony and said it was a special moment for him.
“It was amazing. It was an amazing experience and something that I’ll remember forever,” he said.
“Yeah, it was a big honour and when I got there and got to experience the whole thing, yeah, memories for a lifetime and just even being there and being around the other athletes, it was pretty cool.
“You know, to see the Olympics from there, it’s something that when I was growing up, as a golfer, you didn’t really think was going to be achievable. So, yeah, it was an amazing experience.”
Shane Lowry, left, and Rory McIlroy of Team Ireland walk the course before a practice round.
The 60-man field is without some of the biggest names in golf due to the qualifying process, which is based on the Official World Golf Ranking.
But while the likes of US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau failed to qualify, McIlroy said LIV Golf members knew the qualifying criteria from the start.
“I mean, I don’t think there’s any other way to do it because it’s hard to compare the golf that they play to the golf that we play,” McIlroy said. “That’s the reason they didn’t get World Ranking points, right?
“So if you want to qualify for the Olympics, you knew what you had to do. Just like if you wanted to qualify for the Ryder Cup, you knew what you had to do.
“They were very aware of the decision they made when they did.”
Both McIlroy and Lowry pointed out that many top athletes failed to qualify for their country due to the qualifying process.
“I mean, you could have the fifth-best sprinter in the world but if he’s from a certain country, he’s not able to make it,” McIlroy said.
Lowry added: “Like Rory said, you watch other sports, that’s the way it is. If you don’t run the time and don’t qualify, you’re not in.
“You watch the American nationals, it’s the biggest race of the year, the Jamaican nationals in the sprint. If they run a bad race, even though they might be one of the best in the world, they are not here competing.
“I know we are not used to that in golf; that the biggest events have the best fields. But you know, there is a few players maybe that would make it better, but it’s still the Olympics and we’ve all qualified to play for our country and we’re all here to win a medal.”