{"id":49197,"date":"2026-06-25T14:49:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T18:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/rory-mcilroy-runs-into-nick-faldo-during-birkdale-scouting-trip\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:49:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T18:49:48","slug":"rory-mcilroy-runs-into-nick-faldo-during-birkdale-scouting-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/rory-mcilroy-runs-into-nick-faldo-during-birkdale-scouting-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy runs into Nick Faldo during Birkdale scouting trip"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Rory McIlroy is already preparing for his next major championship.<\/p>\n<p>McIlroy, days removed from a T-32 finish at the US Open at Sinek Hills, was at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, on Thursday ahead of the July 16-19 British Open Championship.<\/p>\n<p>advertisement<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m probably going to go play links golf this week,&#8221; McIlroy told reporters last Sunday, without specifically mentioning that it was a scouting trip to Birkdale, which will host the first British Open since Jordan Spieth won it in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Nick Faldo, who covers majors for Sky Sports, was also at Birkdale and encountered McIlroy on the course, recording an impromptu interview with the fellow six-time major champion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s good to get up here and play early,&#8221; McIlroy told Faldo. &#8220;That&#8217;s what I&#8217;ve tried to do every major tournament, and it&#8217;s worked out well for me. &#8230; Try playing some links golf and try to get used to the conditions again.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>McIlroy, who spent significant time at Augusta National before his second Masters win this year, said the course was &#8220;a little different&#8221; than it was nine years ago, most notably a few different holes and some new green complexes. McIlroy, who tied for fourth at Birkdale in 2017, said the driveable par-4 fifth hole was &#8220;completely different.&#8221; He missed the cut in 2008, his first full year as a pro.<\/p>\n<p>advertisement<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I always thought Birkdale was one of the best players in the open rota,&#8221; McIlroy added.<\/p>\n<p>McIlroy will next compete in the Genesis Scottish Open, which will be held in North Berwick, Scotland, the week before the Open.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rory McIlroy is already preparing for his next major championship. McIlroy, days removed from a T-32 finish at the US Open at Sinek Hills, was at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, on Thursday ahead of the July 16-19 British Open Championship. advertisement &#8220;I&#8217;m probably going to go play links golf this week,&#8221; McIlroy told reporters [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-49197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}