McIlroy desperate to enjoy homecoming

Rory McIlroy does not expect previous poor showings at the Irish Open to affect him as he seeks a first win at his home event.

The four-time major champion has a miserable record in the European Tour competition, missing the cut for the past three years, while his best-ever finish came in his first year as a professional when he ended up seventh.

Since then it has been nothing but a tale of woe for the 27-year-old, who has gone on to enjoy success across the globe and climb to the top of the world rankings.

McIlroy says he can not understand why he finds the Irish Open so difficult but believes this could be his year as he seeks to claim his first win on tour since last November.

“The Irish Open always was, but even more so now, has become one of the most important weeks of the year for me, obviously for a couple of different reasons,” he said.

“We’re here to try and raise as much money as we possibly can for three local charities in the Dublin area, but also it’s a tournament that I desperately would love to win one day.

“My performances in this event, obviously over the past three years, but going beyond that, haven’t been what I would want. I want to really change that this week with a good performance and I feel like my game is in good enough shape to do that.”

McIlroy took on the role of tournament host last year but appeared to be distracted by the extra duties, carding an opening-round 80 on his way to missing the cut.

The world No.3 feels he has learned his lessons from last year and claims to have a lighter schedule to give him a better chance of succeeding on the course.

“I think there was times where I spread myself a little bit too thin last year with a lot of commitments and we’ve tried to scale that back a little bit this year,” he added.

“Last night with the Q&A (with Sir Alex Ferguson) was one of the biggest things I had to do, but once the tournament starts I really don’t have many other commitments, so I’m trying to really focus on the tournament when we get going.”

Tagged European Tour, Irish Open, Rory McIlroy