Rory McIlroy’s tearful Masters triumph was sport at its most moving. This week could be even more emotional

While Rory McIlroy’s Masters triumph earned him a long-awaited career grand slam, a home Open Championship win at Royal Portrush could be even more emotion for the Northern Irishman.

Hands clasped to his head, knees pinned to the emerald turf, chest convulsing in frenetic, ragged breaths, Rory McIlroy looked like a man subjugated by the weight of the world. Then, he propped himself upright, lifted his head skyward and unleashed a primal, fist-pumping roar that reverberated with the release of a seemingly indomitable burden. The images of McIlroy winning The Masters, finally capturing his white whale after a 17-year pursuit fraught with heartbreak, and the unbridled celebrations that followed will likely live long in the memory of anyone who followed that near-cinematic Sunday afternoon at Augusta National in April. Eyes welling up with tears as he discussed the prospect of celebrating with his parents back home in Northern Ireland, the raw intensity of McIlroy’s body language was a fitting reflection of the summit he had just scaled. Victory had stamped his ticket for entry into the sport’s most illustrious member’s club as just the sixth men’s golfer to complete the career grand slam of all four majors. Yet McIlroy isn’t done soul stirring. Far from it, the green jacket’s newest recipient believes that winning the Open Championship on home turf at Royal Portrush come Sunday could well top the realization of that “lifelong dream” three months ago. “I think it would be just as emotional, if not more emotional, to do that than what I did in Augusta … and everyone saw the mess I was after that,” the 36-year-old told BBC Sport on Monday. Born and raised some 60 miles (96 kilometers) away in Holywood, a small town of little over 10,000 people just a 15-minute drive from the hubbub of the capital Belfast, McIlroy was always guaranteed to receive a hero’s welcome at the 153rd edition of the major this week.