Rory roars in Irish drama punctuate 2025

McIlroy wins Irish Open in playoff after exhilarating eagle on 18th

Rory McIlroy lifts Irish spirits with thrilling victory at The K Club (Sam Barnes/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Rory McIlroy is amazing theater. There is just no debate about that, as was proven again Sunday when he won his national Open at The K Club in dramatic fashion to add another chapter to an amazing year.

The five-time major winner who completed the career grand slam in April at the Masters won for the fourth time worldwide with a playoff victory over hard-luck Swede Joakim Lagergren, who watched McIlroy make a 27-footer for eagle at the 18th to force sudden death and elicit a sonic roar from the partisan Irish crowd.

It wasn’t a fair fight despite both players making birdies on the par-5 18th in the first two playoff laps. Lagergren, ranked No. 94 in the world to start the week and without a victory since 2018, blinked first by finding the water with his second shot when the duo played it for the third time in sudden death. It wasn’t anything to be ashamed of in losing to such an iconic figure in McIlroy in the most biased of settings.

“This is a tough one to swallow,” Lagergren said. “I really thought I had that out there today. Obviously, posting minus-17 going into the clubhouse, could might as well been enough. Played really good in the playoff as well. Hit a solid 5-iron down on the last play, but it got a horrendous bounce. It’s a meter from being dead to the hole. So it’s tough.”

McIlroy was able to safely hit his second shot onto the green and then two-putted for the victory — his third playoff win of the year before a raucous crowd of supporters to go with his popular triumphs at the Players and Masters. It was also McIlroy’s second Irish Open victory, the other coming in 2016, also at The K Club outside of Dublin.

It would be tough to beat the feeling of exhilaration that permeated the place when McIlroy holed that eagle putt at the last to close the two-shot gap.

“It’s right up there,” McIlroy said afterward. “Just that scene on 18, hitting your second shot into the green, and you’ve got the grandstand and all the crowd on the right, but then half of the first fairway is full as well. It’s just absolutely incredible seeing it.

“You always want to have the putt on the last green to win or do something big, and that was definitely one of them. I’ll remember that for a long time.”

McIlroy shot a final-round 66 and came from four back at the start of the day, then found himself in a battle with Lagergren and a pair of Spaniards, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Angel Hidalgo.

The Northern Irishman’s chances appeared over, however, after Lagergren eagled the 16th and then birdied the 18th while McIlroy failed to birdie 16 and making only par at the 17th. That left him two down heading to the last hole.

The victory was McIlroy’s first since the Masters and gave him three playoff wins — at the Players over J.J. Spaun and the Masters over Justin Rose. He also won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier in the year in a head-to-head Sunday joust with fellow Irishman Shane Lowry.

But there was clearly a lull after the Masters victory, and McIlroy admitted there were times he searched for motivation. He had a poor run early in the summer, missing the cut by 12 shots at the Canadian Open and then barely making the cut at the U.S. Open.

But his return to Ireland for the Open at Royal Portrush seemed to snap him back into good form and he’s played solidly, if not spectacularly, since.

The win was his 20th on the DP World Tour, where he is 12th on the all-time list led by Seve Ballesteros with 50. Next up on the list are Sam Torrance and Miguel Angel Jimenez tied for 10th with 21 wins.

“I feel so lucky I get to do this, in front of these people,” McIlroy said afterward on the 18th green. “The support has been amazing all week. I thought it was a nice homecoming. This has been incredible; it has exceeded all my expectations.

“I love coming home, I love playing in this atmosphere.”

This week, McIlroy will join 10 of his European Ryder Cup teammates at Wentworth — where McIlroy now lives — for the BMW PGA Championship, the DP World Tour’s flagship tournament and one being played just two weeks prior to the Ryder Cup.

The Ryder Cup is the event McIlroy has had circled since the European victory in Rome two years ago.

“To win the Masters and then to win my national open — no matter what happens for the rest of the year, that’s a pretty cool year,” he said. “2025 is going to go down as one of the best, if not the best, of my career.

“But we’re not finished yet. I’ve got a big week at Wentworth [site of this week’s BMW PGA Championship] and then obviously everyone’s looking forward to the Ryder Cup. My team’s in good shape and I’m playing well. That excites me for what’s coming up.”