Rory McIlroy throws weight behind The Open returning to Muirfield in 2028

The Claret Jug event takes place this year at Royal Birkdale before the 155th edition of the game’s oldest major is held at St Andrews for a record 31st time in 2027.

The R&A has not yet announced a venue for 2028, with Muirfield, regarded by many as the best course on the list, waiting to find out when the event will return there for the first time since 2013.

Part of the reason for such a big gap was the initial ‘no’ vote by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers when a move was made to try and admit women members in 2016.

According to Martin Slumbers, who was The R&A chief executive at the time but has since been succeeded by Mark Darbon, that led to “difficult discussions” for a spell between the St Andrews-based organisation and the club.

However, after a second vote in 2017 led to the club ending a 275-year men-only policy, the AIG Women’s Open was then held at Muirfield for the first time in 2022.

In what could be viewed as another step towards welcoming back The Open, The R&A’s Women’s Amateur Championship will also be staged there for the first time in June.

All that now remains to be determined is when Muirfield will get the nod to be fully back in the spotlight, having hosted 16 Opens and produced a stellar roll of honour, with winners including Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Henry Cotton, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo (twice), Ernie Els and, most recently, Phil Mickelson.

“It would be wonderful if it was,” said McIlroy, speaking at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on Saturday, in reply to being asked by Scotland on Sunday about the possibility of Muirfield being announced for 2028. “I'm not privy to those conversations, but Muirfield deserves to be back on The Open rota.”

Royal Lytham is also waiting to welcome back the world’s top players, having staged its most recent edition in 2012. A more likely slot for it, though, would be 2029 as it would mark the 50th anniversary of Seve Ballesteros being crowned as the ‘Car Pak Champion’ at the Lancashire venue.

“I would say 2028 would be very early to bring an Open back to that region,” observed McIlroy of this year’s event being hosted in the same area. “Yeah, I would say, Muirfield, they obviously rectified the issues that they had.

“It's a wonderful golf course. It's one of the best courses on the rota and in the UK, but I think, as well, it has to commercially make sense. I think Mark Darbon has been brought in to make The Open Championship commercially viable. I would say Muirfield, that area, North Berwick, that would probably be one of the more-commercially viable Opens.”

An attendance of just over 140,000 for the 2013 event was hugely disappointing, but, due to significant changes to how the event is now marketed, it wouldn’t be a problem attracting, say, 250,000 at Muirfield.

In his first Open outing at Muirfield in 2013, McIlroy slumped to an opening 79 before adding a 75 to miss the cut by four shots on 12 under. At the time, it was his worst 36 holes in relation to par in a major.

“Could have been my lowest point in my professional career,” he admitted, smiling. Asked if he would like to go back and play in different circumstances, the career grand slam winner replied: “Absolutely. I've won an Open since then (in 2014). I've played well. Yeah, I feel like 2013 feels like a lifetime ago.”

The AIG Women’s Open is being held at Lytham this year. “Usually when the women's is somewhere, then the men's seems to follow pretty soon after,” observed McIlroy. “That could be the case (of an Open at Lytham in 2029).”