Rory McIlroy Advocates for Muirfield’s Return to The Open Rota

One of the most iconic venues in the history of The Open, Muirfield, has been absent from the Major championship for nearly 13 years. However, professional golfer Rory McIlroy believes it’s time for the course to be reinstated to the tournament’s schedule.

Currently, only the next two venues for The Open have been confirmed. Royal Birkdale will host the event for the 11th time this year, followed by the Old Course at St Andrews for the 31st time in 2027. Yet, there is speculation that Muirfield could be considered for a future edition beyond 2027.

Muirfield, which ranks fourth in Golf Monthly’s top 100 courses in the UK & Ireland 2025/26 and hosted the 2022 AIG Women’s Open, has the potential to return to the rota. McIlroy expressed his hope for this outcome, stating, “It would be wonderful if it was. I’m not privy to those conversations, but Muirfield deserves to be back on the Open rota.”

The course has a rich history, having hosted The Open 16 times, second only to the Old Course at St Andrews and Prestwick Golf Club. However, it hasn’t added to its count since 2013, partly due to low attendance figures that year and the fact that it only began allowing women members in 2017. Despite these challenges, McIlroy believes the time is right for Muirfield to return.

He added, “They rectified the issues they had. It’s a wonderful course. It’s one of the best courses on the rota and in the UK. It has to commercially make sense. I think Mark Darbon [CEO of The R&A] has been brought in to make the Open Championship commercially viable. I would say Muirfield, that area, North Berwick, that would probably be one of the more commercially viable opens.”

McIlroy’s support for Muirfield’s return comes despite a difficult experience at the course during the 2013 Open. He missed the cut after finishing 12 over par, a performance that he described as one of the lowest points of his career. However, he has since moved past that setback, winning the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool the following year.

“It could have been my lowest point in my professional career. I’ve won an Open since then, I’ve played well in the Open. Yeah, 2013 feels like a lifetime ago,” he said.

In addition to his thoughts on Muirfield, McIlroy also expressed skepticism about the possibility of Royal Lytham & St Anne returning to the Open rota soon. The Lancashire venue last hosted the event in 2012, and with this year’s Open taking place in a similar region, McIlroy believes it may affect its chances of being selected for the 2028 edition.

“With Birkdale this year, it would be very early to bring an Open back to that region in 2028. The Women’s Open is at Lytham this year. Usually when the women’s is somewhere, then the men’s seems to follow pretty soon after. That could be the case,” he explained.

While the future of Open venues remains uncertain, McIlroy’s focus at the moment is on his performance at the Dubai Desert Classic. He entered the final round 11 strokes behind leader Patrick Reed, but ultimately finished in a tie for 33rd after a final-round score of 73. This ended his streak of 11 consecutive top-10 finishes at the event.

Despite the disappointing result, McIlroy remains optimistic about the future of The Open and the potential return of historic venues like Muirfield.