Rory McIlroy has committed to the 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open May 28-31 at Mount Juliet Estate.
The current World No. 1 from Northern Ireland is making a much anticipated return after winning the 2016 event when he and his now closed foundation, the Rory Foundation, hosted the event.
McIlroy hosted the Irish Open from 2015-18.
“I’m looking forward to it a lot,” McIlroy said in a statement. “It’s a bit different going back for a May date as opposed to July, and at a Parkland Course at Mount Juliet. I’ve never played the course but got good memories – it was the first time I ever watched Tiger Woods play in person… It’ll be exciting to tee it up there myself and try to win a tournament there.”
McIlroy, 30, was criticized across Ireland after skipping the 2019 event at Lahinch Golf Club. The four-time major winner said he decided not to compete in the 2019 Irish Open because he wanted to avoid playing in back-to-back events ahead of the British Open at Royal Portrush— a major tournament in his homeland.
“If I want to give myself the best possible chance to win the Open Championship, I want to play the week before to get tuned up on a links course and then I want to go straight into the Open,” McIlroy said to the BBC in February 2019. “That third week is a just a little too much for me.”
The accusations of snubbing last year’s event didn’t dissuade McIlroy. The 2014 Open Championship winner was unrelenting in his decision to forgo the Irish Open for the major tournament.
“If there is ever a year when I feel I can miss the Irish Open, it’s this year,” McIlroy said to the BBC. “If I was to play the Irish Open, the Open Championship would be my third event in a row. For me, that’s not the best way to prepare for what could be the biggest event of my life…
“It’s easy to criticize from far away because you don’t know the details. I’m sure people are going to be upset but at the same time, if it means that it gives me a better chance to win The Open, and prepare well for Portrush, I’m going to do it.”
The 2019 Irish Open was scheduled two weeks before the Open Championship with the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open the week in between. McIlroy placed T-34 at the Scottish Open and T-74 at the Open Championship.
McIlroy last played in the 2018 Irish Open and finished T-28 at 2 under. In 2017, he missed the cut, finishing T-118 at 1 over through 36 holes.
Tournament host Graeme McDowell welcomed McIlroy to the field for the 2020 tournament Friday morning on Twitter.
The Irish Open, previously held in July, was scheduled for May for the 2020 European Tour season. The last time the event was played in May was in 2016 when McIlroy won at the K Club in Straffan, Ireland.
