Rory McIlroy takes sly dig at major venue ahead of Scottish Open

Rory McIlroy took a sly dig at a future PGA Championship venue when asked to describe what it would mean to him to win The Open on home turf next week. 

Sporting a radical new hair cut, McIlroy, 36, was speaking to the media ahead of this week's Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club. 

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The Northern Irishman was asked by a reporter to talk about what it would mean to him win The Open next week when he has so few chances to do it in his home land.

McIlroy first had a shot to win The Open at Portrush six years ago in 2019, but he went on to miss the cut despite a late surge on Friday. 

The Ulsterman struck his first ball out of bounds en route to a dismal first-round 79, before bouncing back valiantly with a 65 in the second round.

But the damage had been done on Thursday and he missed the cut by one.

McIlroy intends to set the record straight next week, especially not knowing when Portrush could host another Open. 

"I would love to win an Open at Portrush, absolutely," said McIlroy, before a future PGA Championship venue quickly took a stray. 

"I would love to win an Open at St Andrews. I would love to win a US Open at Pebble Beach. I'd love to win a PGA at PGA Frisco -- no," added McIlroy, while laughing at his answer. 

"It's like there's venues in the game that just mean a little bit more. Frisco might get there one day, who knows. 

"But yeah, and I think, as well, having Portrush from home and the experience I had there last time, you know, I want to, the Friday was amazing, the Thursday, not too much.

"It's a little like Djokovic won the Olympics last year, he knew that was doing to be his final chance, and you saw the emotion and you saw how much it meant to him. 

"You think about it, and you can't pretend that it's not there, but when you are on the golf course, you just have to go out there and play as if you're not playing at home and just play as if it's another golf tournament.

"But yeah, it obviously is a little more -- it has a little more, like, emphasis. There's something extra there, just like there is at an open at St Andrews or a US Open at Pebble Beach, for example."

As McIlroy mentions, Frisco will host the 2027 PGA Championship.

The Fields Ranch East Course at PGA Frisco last month held the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.

But it was heavily criticised by a number of leading LPGA players for its challenging setup and length of rounds. 

Ladies World No.1 Nelly Korda told Golfweek: "The hole locations are kind of in almost impossible positions where not many people are hitting the greens, so obviously it's going to take a lot more time."

Former AIG Women's Open champion Sophia Popov went even further after missing the cut: "The PGA set the golf course up to make us look silly and incapable the majority of the time there. 

"Six-hour rounds in brutally windy conditions with pin placements that were mostly inaccessible. 

"Playing 30-40 feet away from the pins all day is not enjoyable to us, nor to the spectators and viewers at home.

"Unfortunately, I barely missed my spots both days and it ended up being very costly."