Rory McIlroy's immediate reaction to Scottie Scheffler's Open victory at Royal Portrush

Rory McIlroy says all he can do is tip his cap to Scottie Scheffler after the American underlined his status as the world number one with a dominant Open victory at Royal Portrush. 

Scheffler began the fourth round of the final men's major of the year in Northern Ireland with a four-shot lead over China's Haotong Li. 

There had been fanciful hopes Masters champion McIlroy could chase down Scheffler in front of a raucous home crowd despite being six strokes back. 

This week has been widely viewed as a lap of honour for the 36-year-old following his career-defining victory at Augusta National in April. 

Across four days of this 153rd Open, McIlroy thrilled and frustrated thousands of his home fans in equal measure but ultimately ended up sharing fifth place with Robert MacIntyre and Xander Schauffele.

Any hopes of McIlroy lifting the Claret Jug were sunk after he made a disastrous double bogey out of nowhere on the 10th hole. 

McIlroy made amends for the error with birdies at the 12th and 15th but by that point he had run out of holes. 

He looked visibly emotional as he received a stunning ovation as he marched up the 72nd hole alongside his European Ryder Cup teammate Matthew Fitzpatrick. 

"I tried as best as I could to keep my emotions in check, especially walking up the last there and that reception," McIlroy said. 

"Yeah, look, it's been an awesome week. I've gotten everything I wanted out of this week apart from a Claret Jug, and that's just because one person was just a little bit better than the rest of us.

"It's been an amazing week, just the - I feel so thankful and just so lucky that I get to do this, I get to do this in front of this crowd. 

"Hopefully I'll have one or two Opens left here, if the R&A decide to keep coming back, probably one while I'm still competitive and another one while I'm more gray than I already am.

"It's just been incredible to come back here and to play and at least feel like I had a chance today going out there. Just an awesome week."

McIlroy had high praise for Scheffler. 

"In a historical context, you could argue that there's only maybe two or three players in the history of the game that have been on a run, the one that Scottie's been on here for the last 24 to 36 months," he said. "[It is] Incredibly impressive.

"Yeah, he's a very worthy winner. Also, he's a great person, and I think he's a wonderful ambassador for our game as well. I'm really happy for him and Meredith and his family."

Providing Scheffler remains injury-free, he will have the opportunity to complete the career grand slam at next year's US Open. 

He will turn 30 on the final day of the major. 

"Admiration," McIlroy said when asked what it has been like watching Scheffler's run since 2021. 

"I think all you can do is admire what he does and how he does it. I think what he does is one thing, but how he does it is another.

"He just goes about his business, doesn't do anything overly flamboyant, but he's the best at executing in the game right now. 

"Yeah, he's been absolutely amazing over these past two to three years. As I said, all you can do is tip your cap and watch in admiration."