PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Roughly 180 steps outside the main entry gate for The Open Championship is a small clubhouse. Rathmore Golf Club is the home for the Valley course, the little brother to what the members call the “Big Club,â€� Royal Portrush with its more famous Dunluce course that will get all the TV attention this week. The fact that Rathmore’s clubhouse is outside the ticketed confines of the Open is not particularly intentional, but it is somewhat symbolic. After all, when Rathmore opened in 1947, it was considered an artisans club, one created for the greens staff, the bar staff, the kitchen staff and any others of service to the more elite and well-heeled Royal Portrush. In essence, Rathmore is the affordable club. Or as Graeme McDowell calls it, “the workingman’s club.â€� Up until recently, membership requirements were strictly limited to those in the BT56 – the postal code for Portrush. Fortunately, the McDowell family qualified. The father, Kenny, took up the game in his 30s, carving out time to play despite working three jobs. He quickly introduced his three sons – George, Graeme and Gary – to the game. With four golfers itching to play as much as possible, there was no way the McDowells could afford Royal Portrush. Thankfully, there was an option. “There’s no point beating around the bush here – as a family, we simply couldn’t afford to be members of Portrush,â€� Graeme wrote in a recent blog post for EuropeanTour.com. “In fact, if we had lived in a part of the world where golf was more expensive, I would never have played the game. It’s that simple.â€� On Wednesday, when asked about Rathmore, G-Mac — who used to do his homework in the clubhouse locker room — was even more succinct. “We were lucky … it was cheap,â€� he said. Besides playing golf, Kenny McDowell soon became heavily involved with Rathmore’s junior program. It was a chance to spend more time with his boys – and his middle son loved the atmosphere. “All I ever wanted to do was compete and be at the golf club and hang out,â€� Graeme said. “It certainly kept me out of trouble. Kept me from getting into any other stuff.â€�   It was an older Rathmore junior – Ricky Elliott – who emerged as the city’s best junior player. Graeme wanted to be like Ricky, and when Ricky opted to play collegiately in the United State (at Toledo), Graeme decided to do the same (at Alabama-Birmingham). It was a big turning point in Graeme’s career, realizing that golf could take him places that had previously been beyond his imagination. It reached the pinnacle at the 2010 U.S. Open, when McDowell celebrated his first major victory on the 18th green at Pebble Beach with a big hug from his dad on, fittingly, Father’s Day. That Sunday night at Rathmore, the hour was late when McDowell sank his final putt. Legally, the club was not supposed to stay open past 11 p.m. But with the tournament creeping into 2 a.m. local town, the Rathmore members closed the windows to keep their cheers and the interior lights from disturbing the neighbors. Two days later, McDowell and his dad arrived in Portrush via private jet. That night, they celebrated again, this time in the Rathmore clubhouse. He brought his U.S. Open trophy – and the trophy now resides in a display case in the entry hallway to the club, along with other mementoes from McDowell and Rathmore’s other notable players. “To bring the U.S. Open trophy back to the club of Rathmore was special,â€� McDowell wrote in his blog “I mean that with no disrespect to Royal Portrush in any shape or form. This is about my roots.â€� “This club wouldn’t be the same if not for Graeme,â€� said Stephen Murdock, who started his one-year term as Rathmore’s captain in late March. “He’s a Rathmore man rather than a Royal Portrush man.â€� And now the Open Championship is being held right outside Rathmore’s door. It’s a dream of a lifetime for the hometown boy, but one McDowell might’ve missed had he not finished inside the top 10 at the RBC Canadian Open, grabbing one of the Open qualifying spots that week. He was already planning to attend at a charity event to start the week, a fundraising breakfast for the Portrush Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Graeme’s mother had asked him to speak. “Yes, boss, I’ll be there,â€� joked McDowell, who doubted he would stay in Portrush the rest of the week had he not qualified. He couldn’t stand the thought of being on the sidelines for his hometown Open, a moot point now, of course. At the breakfast, McDowell signed autographs, posed for photos and fielded questions from the crowd of 270. Someone asked him if he would trade his U.S. Open trophy for a chance to win the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush with an 8-foot putt on Sunday. The percentage on the PGA TOUR from that distance is about 53 percent. McDowell, utilizing the math skills that once had him contemplating a degree in engineering, mentioned he’d rather have a 6-footer, which is a 70 percent conversion rate. Only then would he “think about it.â€� On Tuesday, McDowell invited Murdock and Royal Portrush manager Wilma Erskine to be his guests at a golf writers’ dinner that was honoring McDowell with an award. Erskine mentioned that she had taken over as manager from a former squadron leader. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a squadron leader around here,â€� Murdock joked as he sat near the members’ bar at Rathmore. “Got a few binmen and punters.â€� Although Rathmore is on the outside looking in this week, club members have been pleased with the way the R&A has made them feel like part of the tournament. An R&A liaison has checked in frequently to ask if they needed anything, and the R&A supplied a free weekly ticket to each Rathmore member, along with discounts for family and friends. The Valley course gave up a couple of its holes to be included in this week’s Open setup – two replacement holes were built — as well as other holes for infrastructure purposes and the driving range. So from that sense, Rathmore is truly part of the Open. “In no way have we been marginalized,â€� Murdock said. Portrush resident Darren Clarke, the 2011 Open champ and Royal Portrush member, will get to hit the first tee shot in Thursday’s opening round. McDowell, the Portrush native, will tee off about 2-1/2 hours later. That might be the only R&A decision that Rathmore members are second-guessing. “I know Darren hitting the first tee shot is only fitting,â€� Murdock said, “but if you ask anyone around here, Graeme should hit the first tee shot. I will say that on the first tee at 10 past 9 on Thursday morning, the stands will be of Rathmore members.â€� Rathmore has been a lively hangout this week, catching fans who are going in or – more likely – leaving the tournament grounds and want to stop for one last drink and perhaps look at G-Mac’s hardware. Earlier this week, a sign out front said, “Everybody welcomed,â€� and indeed anybody could walk in, provided they sign a guest book. But a complaint was lodged by another Portrush establishment, arguing that Rathmore was technically a private club and thus could not invite “everybody.â€� So the police came to the club Wednesday and asked for the sign to be removed. It’s too bad, given that the workingman’s club has long welcomed locals who want to play golf but couldn’t afford the big club inside the main gate this week.

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PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – When Rory McIlroy first came to Royal Portrush, he wasn’t the one playing golf. McIlroy would chip and putt on the practice green, but he was there to watch his father, Gerry, play in the North of Ireland Championship. Rory finally played Royal Portrush on his 10th birthday. He met Darren Clarke that day, as well. A few years later, Rory famously set the course record, shooting 61 in the 2005 North of Ireland. The Open’s return to his homeland hasn’t added an untenable burden to his shoulders, though. He likes to remind people that his caddie, Harry Diamond, has played more rounds at Royal Portrush than he has. “I’m from Northern Ireland and I’m playing at home, but I don’t see myself as that center of attention,â€� McIlroy said. RELATED: Tee times | Expert Picks | Power Rankings | Tiger sharpening game | Rory’s 61 at 16 | Five things to know about Royal Portrush | Writers roundtable If McIlroy is not the center of attention, he is undoubtedly one of the favorites. He has four consecutive top-5s in The Open, including a win in The Open. He also has the lowest scoring average in that span (69.0 strokes). He is third in the FedExCup thanks to wins at THE PLAYERS and RBC Canadian Open. McIlroy is trying to become the first player since Jack Nicklaus in 1978 to win THE PLAYERS and The Open in the same season. Not only did Rory set the course record (beating a mark once held by Padraig Harrington), but Diamond made it to the final of the 2011 North of Ireland. He lost on the 19th hole. McIlroy said his preparation for this week has been similar to other Open Championships. He played Royal Portrush shortly after last year’s Ryder Cup, then played practice rounds Saturday and Tuesday. He had dinner scheduled with his parents after that Saturday round, but he had to move the reservation up because he spent less time on the course than anticipated. His childhood memories quickly returned, decreasing the amount of prep work he needed to do. “I think I was making it a little bigger in my head than it needed to be. I’ve played this place enough times to know where to miss it, where not to miss it, where the good leaves are,â€� McIlroy said. “No matter if there’s grandstands around of not, … it’s the same golf course.â€� McIlroy grew up about 60 miles south of Portrush, in Holywood. Of the three Northern Irishmen in the field, his ties to the course may be the loosest. Graeme McDowell grew up in Portrush. Darren Clarke lives here and is a member of the club. The Open’s return after a 68-year absence is important step for a country trying to recover from a long-standing sectarian divide, but McIlroy’s life has largely been untouched by The Troubles.   He knows this week’s significance extends beyond golf, but the enthusiasm that produced the first sell-out in Open history could help. “I can’t just put the blinkers on and pretend that’s not all going on. One of my sort of mantras this week is: Look around and smell the roses,â€� McIlroy said. “This is a wonderful thing for this country and golf in general. And to be quite a big part of it is an honor and a privilege. And I want to keep reminding myself of that, that this is bigger than me, right? This is bigger than me. “I think if you can look at the bigger picture and you can see that, it sort of takes a little bit of the pressure off. I still want to play well and concentrate and do all the right things, but at the same time just having that perspective might just make me relax a little bit more.â€�

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PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – The PGA TOUR schedule is sprinting to the finish. This week’s Open Championship is immediately followed by a World Golf Championship (FedEx St. Jude Invitational) and then one last opportunity, at the Wyndham Championship, to jockey for FedExCup position before the trio of Playoffs events. For all the talk of this new schedule’s frenetic pace, at least we are past the days when majors overlapped, forcing players to declare their allegiances to one side of the Atlantic. That was the case in 1951, when The Open Championship last visited Royal Portrush. The first Open played outside England or Scotland started just a day after Sam Snead won his third PGA Championship. The Open’s qualifying rounds were taking place when Snead beat Walter Burkemo in the championship match. RELATED: Tee times | Expert Picks | Power Rankings | Tiger sharpening game | Rory’s 61 at 16 | Five things to know about Royal Portrush | Writers roundtable Most of the top Americans joined Snead at Oakmont Country Club outside of Pittsburgh. The contingent that traveled to Northern Ireland was so small that an amateur, Frank Stranahan, was its leading man. This was a day when professional golf was still a hardscrabble existence. As an heir to the Champion spark plug fortune, Stranahan never felt pressure to play for a paycheck. He was still one of the world’s best players, finishing second in both the Masters and Open Championship in 1947. He won his second British Amateur the year before playing Royal Portrush. Just four Americans qualified for the 1951 Open. One of them, Charles Rotar, didn’t need to make the lengthy trip. He was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. Stranahan was both low amateur and low American, finishing 12th in the championship. This year’s Open includes an American amateur who earned his spot via qualifying, Brandon Wu, but a lot has changed in six decades. The PGA is now in May (and at stroke play) and trans-Atlantic travel is infinitely easier. Thus, there was no decision to make. The American contingent over here this week is in the midst of a successful run in the Grand Slam events. Americans have won nine of the last 10 majors – Italian Francesco Molinari’s win at Carnoustie a year ago is the lone exception – and all three this year. Four of those last 10 have been won by Brooks Koepka, most recently at the PGA. Koepka and his countrymen could find Royal Portrush to their liking as they look to extend the streak. Irish links are known for more dramatic elevation changes than their cousins in England and Scotland. That means many of the holes require an aerial approach. The run-offs surrounding the greens also make recovery more difficult, making it harder for players to scramble their way to a good score. “I think more than typical Opens that I played, you’ve really got to ball strike it,â€� said the most recent American to win a major, U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland. “Not a lot of run-ups, you’re going to have to fly it on the greens, which I think sets up pretty good for me.â€� Royal Portrush received rain Wednesday, as well, which should allow players to fly shots closer to the hole. The course is playing softer than last year’s crispy test at Carnoustie. The biggest decisions may come on the tee. At least seven holes have some degree of dogleg, requiring players to commit to a specific line and distance. Players can be aggressive and cut the corner or lay back with irons. They may pay a high penalty if their tee shot fails to carry onto the fairway, though. The lusher conditions mean that the rough is thicker than the wispy grass that players saw last year, when Scotland was hit with a record heat wave. In some places, nothing more than a hack-out is possible. “Depending on the wind, you’re going to hit a lot of different clubs on every hole,â€� said Dustin Johnson. “You have options. You can kind of challenge it and get it down it there if you’re driving it well or you can leave it back and play it a little longer hole.â€� Darren Clarke, the 2011 Open champion and a Royal Portrush member who will hit the opening shot Thursday as part of the first threesome on the course, said he will be an interested observer this week. He’s curious to watch players pick a strategy. “You can try and take it on at your peril,â€� Clarke said about his home course. Weather and wind will play a part in players’ decision-making. The conditions have an outsized impact on scoring on links courses, so calmer conditions could goad players into being aggressive. Earlier in the week, the weather was reminiscent of a pleasant mid-summer’s day in the Midwest. That changed Wednesday, and tougher conditions could continue when play gets underway. Wind gusts up to 25 mph are expected Thursday. So are showers and “short-lived bursts of heavy rain,â€� according to The Open’s official forecast.  “I think it’s why this course is so well-designed,â€� noted Justin Thomas, a contributor to the Americans’ latest run, having won the 2017 PGA. “You really can do anything. I mean, even a hole like 1, do you want to hit driver and take it past every bunker or do you want hit 3-wood and kind of fit it in between them or do you want to hit a 4-iron and keep it short? You have the opportunity to do what you want.â€� Decisions, decisions. At least players weren’t forced to pick which major to play.

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