Rory McIlroy, who has experienced both joy and heartbreak at the Open Championship, needed his wife Erica Stoll following one especially tough moment at the 2022 event

Day two of The 153rd Open Championship has commenced at Royal Portrush as Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry aim to work their way up the leaderboard. Both McIlroy and Lowry finished day one on one-under-par, leaving them three shots off the the leaders.

Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy addresses the crowd's presence after Round One of The 2025 Open Championship

Shane Lowry was almost doing cartwheels after he opened with a one-under 70 and his pal Rory McIlroy was equally relieved to overcome a wayward driver to match him and lie just three shots off the pace in The Open at Royal Portrush.

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — If anybody stepped to the first tee at Portrush with a powerful memory, it was Shane Lowry. He is, after all, the last player to win a British Open at Portrush, in 2019, and he’d been anticipating the emotions that would engulf him for that first tee shot this week for quite a while.

Rory McIlroy was involved in several controversial moments during the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, including a heated altercation with Patrick Cantlay's caddie, Joe LaCava

Shane Lowry has returned to Royal Portrush as the last man to win The Open at this year's venue, but the former champion admitted he was nervous ahead of his first tee shot

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are close friends away from the golf course, with the former admitting the latter is something of a role model to him as they prepare to do battle at The Open Championship

JJ Spaun has revealed the brutal seven-word jibe Rory McIlroy made to him just weeks after pipping the American to the Players Championship title in a play-off

The drama that occurred at the 2023 edition of the Ryder Cup has left Xander Schauffele's father, Stefan, on a mission to boycott the event later this year

Rory McIlroy shot 1-under 70 in the first round of the British Open at Royal Portrush that is also serving as a homecoming for the Northern Irish star