The British Open returns to Royal Portrush and it should be quite the homecoming for Rory McIlroy. He'd love nothing more than to win golf's oldest championship on his home soil of Northern Ireland.

Viewers accustomed to watching the British Open contested at the same venerable eight or nine courses each summer, not to mention the players competing on them, became smitten with Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland when the competition returned there in 2019.

Royal Portrush will host the 153rd Open Championship for only the third time in its history. Six years ago Irishman Shane Lowry made his major breakthrough, a popular winner once home favourite Rory McIlroy missed the cut. Here the PA news agency looks at this year’s event in Northern Ireland.