Rory McIlroy Magic On Display With Irish Open Victory.

As his twenty-seven foot, ten inch putt for eagle to force a playoff at the K Club found the bottom of the cup and the crowd went wild, golf fans were reminded that Rory McIlroy can deliver excitement that is matched by few in the modern game of golf.

STRAFFAN, IRELAND – SEPTEMBER 07: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland celebrates with his caddie Harry Diamond after an eagle on the 18th green on day four of the Amgen Irish Open 2025 at The K Club on September 07, 2025 in Straffan, Ireland. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

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Playing in front of what amounted to a home crowd just outside of Dublin at the K Club, McIlroy, from Northern Ireland, whipped the crowd into a frenzy as he tied Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren and headed back to the tee on 18 for a playoff.

As young children and grown men cheered and chanted his name around the eighteenth green, the electricity in the air was palpable. Regardless of whatever the upcoming playoff outcome would be, McIlroy had already fulfilled what few others in professional golf can do, deliver drama.

That drama can go either way for McIlroy as we all know. Just last year in the Irish Open at Royal County Down, he had a putt on the 72nd hole to tie Rasmus Hojgaard and force a playoff. That putt hung on the lip and did not fall, capping a season of disappointment highlighted by his crushing defeat at Pinehurst in the U.S. Open.

2025 has been different for McIlroy. He started the year strong, winning both the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Players Championship. Of course the season was highlighted by his dramatic, roller coaster Sunday at the Masters where he held on to win in a playoff over Justin Rose. So to win his home championship would just be icing on the cake as he headed to a playoff on the eighteenth hole with Lagergren.

After both players birdied the eighteenth hole the first two playoff holes, Lagergren found the water to the left of the green on the third playoff hole, opening the door for McIlroy. When his eagle putt nestled up the hole, he tapped in for the victory.

“I thought it was going to be a nice homecoming, obviously coming home with a green jacket and all that, but this has been absolutely incredible,” McIlroy told Sky Sports.

“This has exceeded all of my expectations. I’m just so, so happy I could play the way I did this week for all of them and get the win.”

The Irish Open victory, McIlroy’s second, came nine years after his first, also at the K Club. McIlroy, always a student of the games history, holds national opens in very high regard. While other top players often skip events like the Canadian Open or Irish Open, McIlroy plays in them.

“It’s really important. I think I’ve made it well known what I think of national opens,” McIlroy said at the 2024 RBC Canadian Open. “I think that they’re the oldest championships in our game and I think they’re very, very important. I’m very proud of the fact that I’ve won quite a few of them.” For this reason, he will travel to Australia in December to play in the Australian Open.

2025 has been an interesting year for McIlroy. He started the season playing well and the win at Augusta National put him in rarified air by completing the career Grand Slam. During the summer months however, his game waned and he openly talked about trying to find motivation after winning the Masters.

With the Ryder Cup just a few weeks away, McIlroy seems to have regained both his motivation and his golf game just in time to try to lead the European team to an elusive victory on American soil at Bethpage Black.

Mike is a founding member of Break80 Golf and a contributing golf and sports writer for Forbes with PGA Tour and LIV Golf media credentials. He can be found on social media platforms @short_sided_golf