Rory McIlroy reveals his Mount Rushmore of golf – and there’s some surprise picks
Rory McIlroy returns to action a two-time Masters champion.
Northern Ireland’s superstar has been on a four-week hiatus since that dramatic final round at Augusta National, but will make his PGA Tour comeback at the 2026 Truist Championship.
And it’s fair to say Quail Hollow Club has proved a happy hunting ground for the six-time major champion.
McIlroy has won there four times in his career, including in 2024, the last time the Truist Championship was played in Charlotte, North Carolina.
He is, once again, favorite to find success at the signature event this weekend.
But just because McIlroy has an impressive history — and a course record 62 at Quail Hollow — that doesn’t mean it qualifies as his favorite place to play.
During an appearance on the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce, the golf icon was asked to name his Mount Rushmore of golf courses, and Quail Hollow failed to make the cut.
Rory McIlroy names four favorite golf courses
“It’s hard, I’ll go four different places,” McIlroy told the Kelce brothers.
“Kingston Heath in Australia, Royal County Down in Northern Ireland, I would do Pine Valley on the East Coast, and Cypress Point.
“It’s so hard, because I’m leaving out so many great golf courses, but those are my four.
“Those sort of old, traditional golf courses that have all the history.
“It goes back to growing the game, that’s the cool thing about golf — all these historical courses and all that stuff — but that doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive to then appeal to a different demographic.
“I think we can enjoy both within the game.”
What record does Rory McIlroy hold at his favourite courses?
While McIlroy often shines at Quail Hollow, he’s actually a far less frequent visitor at his four favorite courses.
He played Kingston Heath early in his career as an amateur, but has never made a professional appearance there.
McIlroy will finally get his chance at the Australian Open event in December 2026, and famously rates it as the best course in Melbourne over Royal Melbourne.
At County Down, meanwhile, he has a mixed record — where a challenging performance at the 2015 Irish Open saw the then-world No. 1 miss the cut.
That was, though, followed by a strong showing in 2024, when he finished second to Rasmus Hojgaard, who snatched a one-shot win.
Pine Valley is not currently on the PGA Tour rotation, and McIlroy last year revealed it was his favorite spot to play away from the circuit.
Interestingly, the New Jersey course only ever hosted two elite tournaments, and both of them were amateur events in the form of the Walker Cup in 1936 and 1985.
McIlroy has never been lucky enough to tee it up at Cypress Point on the West Coast, either.
“Never played Cypress. I’ve been there for lunch three times, but never played the golf course,” he said a couple of years ago.
Now a two-time Masters champion, you’d think he’d be able to get a tee time at the highly exclusive club these days.
This week, though, he’ll be fully focused on a return to Quail Hollow.
Stay up to date with golf across all our talkSPORT platforms – subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest news, opinion, exclusive interviews and our daily unfiltered, unscripted show ‘The S* Word, from 8am ET
What's Your Reaction?
Like
0
Dislike
0
Love
0
Funny
0
Angry
0
Sad
0
Wow
0
