Archive June 15, 2025

Rory McIlroy says he is looking forward to climbing “another mountain” by winning an Open Championship on home soil after ending a frustrating US Open on a positive note.

The Northern Irishman has struggled since his career Grand Slam-clinching victory at the Masters in April, but carded an encouraging three-under 67 to close out his week at Oakmont on seven over.

The 36-year-old says he will play in next week’s Travelers Championship before taking a couple of weeks off to “get myself in the right frame of mind” for July’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush, where he missed the cut in 2019.

“I climbed my Everest in April, and I think after you do something like that, you’ve got to make your way back down, and you’ve got to look for another mountain to climb,” said the world number two.

“An Open at Portrush is certainly one of those.”

The five-time major champion added: “If I can’t get motivated to get up for an Open Championship at home, then I don’t know what can motivate me.

“I just need to get myself in the right frame of mind. I probably haven’t been there the past few weeks.

Despite a late rally in the second round, McIlroy was reduced to tears after failing to make the cut when The Open returned to Portrush for the first time in 68 years in 2019.

“I didn’t realise how emotional I was going to be at Portrush. I think that was a thing I was unprepared for more than anything else,” he recalled.

“I remember I hit a shot into 12 or 13 on Friday, obviously trying to make the cut. I remember the roar I got when the ball hit the green, and I felt like I was about to burst into tears.

McIlroy cut a dejected figure when he spoke to reporters after Saturday’s third round and outlined his “frustration” with the media after a leaked story surrounding his ‘non-conforming’ driver at last month’s US PGA Championship.

He did not speak to reporters after each of his four rounds at Quail Hollow and the opening two days of the US Open.

The five-time major winner has struggled off the tee in recent weeks, but he appeared in better spirits after hitting 11 of 14 fairways at Oakmont on Sunday.

“I feel like I’ve driven the ball well all week. After the way I drove it today, I’d say I finished in the top five in strokes gained off the tee,” he said.

“[I’m] really encouraged with the driver and how I drove it as well. It’s not necessarily the driver, it’s more me and sort of where my swing was.

“I feel like I got a really good feeling in my swing with the driver, which was great. Hopefully I can continue that on into next week. It’s close.

Men’s Twenty20: Scotland v Netherlands, Clydesdale

Scotland 160-8: McCreath 40, Cross 33; Dutt 3-17

Netherlands 121 (18.1): Levitt 36, Van Meekeren 20no; Sharif 2-13

Scotland win by 39 runs

Scotland defeated the Netherlands by 39 runs in their opening T20 tri-series match in Glasgow.

The hosts posted 160-8 and then dominated with the ball as the Dutch were all out for 121 in 18.1 overs.

It was revenge for Scotland’s defeat by the same opponents three days earlier in their remarkably high-scoring Cricket World Cup League 2 match in Dundee.

Safyaan Sharif, Jack Jarvis and Mark Watt took two wickets each as the Scots, who face Nepal on Tuesday in their second match, defended their total with some comfort after a delayed start at Clydesdale Cricket Club.

It was not all straightforward for the Scots, though.

Netherlands’ Aryan Dutt struck with the first balls of his second and third overs – wicketkeeper Scott Edwards stumping opener Watt and then taking a catch to account for Brandon McMullen – to leave the hosts on 23 for two as the tourists capitalised on their decision to field.

George Munsey’s 17-ball 30, which included three sixes and two fours, gave Scotland some momentum, but when he fell to Zach Lion-Cachet and Liam Naylor and Michael Leask soon followed, they were under pressure.

However, Finlay McCreath and skipper Matthew Cross put on 57 for the sixth wicket before McCreath went for 40 and Cross joined him back in the pavilion for 33, with Dutt’s three for 17 the pick of the Dutch team’s bowling contributions.

The Dutch reply got off to a positive start when opener Michael Levitt took 15 from McMullen’s first over.

However, Max O’Dowd and Lion-Cachet fell cheaply as they were reduced to 23 for two before skipper Edwards was run out for four with only 13 more having been added to the total.

Levitt’s departure for 36 in the ninth over left the Netherlands with a mountain to climb.

Daniel Bell-Drummond hammered a 48-ball century as Kent Spitfires ended Somerset’s 100% start to their T20 Blast campaign.

Meanwhile, reigning champions Gloucestershire suffered a fifth successive defeat as Glamorgan beat them by 40 runs at Bristol.

Matthew Potts inspired Durham to a crushing six-wicket win over Yorkshire, with the England paceman returning Blast-best figures of 5-17 at York’s Clifton Park.

And three-times winners Leicestershire ended a two-game losing streak with a comfortable win over Worcestershire.

Match scorecards

This year’s T20 Blast had been missing a centurion before Bell-Drummond made the most of the batter-friendly conditions to help down South Group leaders Somerset.

The 31-year-old smashed 12 fours and four sixes and shared an opening stand of 158 with Tawanda Muyeye (70) to give the Spitfires the ideal platform after being asked to bat.

Muyeye’s effort was his second highest score in the format, but when he was the third man out at 200, Kent added only a further 28 runs from the remaining four overs.

The home side had successfully chased down a victory target of 230 to beat Middlesex last Thursday and an early onslaught from Tom Banton (68) and Will Smeed (24), in which they put on 91 from the first seven overs, threatened to make this one look even easier.

Nathan Gilchrist dropped Banton in the deep when he had made only two and that error looked like it could be costly as he thrashed five fours and six sixes from 33 balls only for the Kent man to make up for his fielding misdemeanour by trapping the England batsman lbw.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore (38), Sean Dickson (31*) and Ben Green (25) kept Somerset’s hopes alive but a fine final over from Tom Rogers, with 19 runs required, earned Kent a vital win to push them into fifth place.

Gloucestershire’s glory of winning the title in 2024 must seem an age ago after a fifth defeat from five games as they lost six wickets for 25 runs to lose to Glamorgan.

Asa Tribe continued to enhance his growing reputation as the Jersey batsman struck five fours and five sixes in an unbeaten 63 from just 28 balls to top score for the visitors in their 189-6 at Bristol.

The home side seemed to have their target of 190 within reach at 103-3, but spinners Mason Crane (4-20) and Imad Wasim (3-23) put the squeeze on and despite Cameron Bancroft’s 52 they subsided to 149-9 and are the only team in the competition yet to register a point.

“There is massive hurt and disappointment because our performances are not due to shortage of effort or lack of preparation,” said Gloucestershire captain Jack Taylor.

Playing in only his second Blast match of the summer, after making his England T20 debut against the West Indies earlier this month, Matthew Potts fired out Yorkshire’s middle order as Durham ran out easy winners to move into second place in the North Group.

With the York venue staging its first Vikings T20 match, the home side never recovered from losing Dawid Malan lbw to Zak Foulkes for a first-ball duck – ending his run of four successive half centuries in the competition

Potts then took centre stage by diving forward at mid-off to remove the returning Jonny Bairstow for four, before displaying all his skills with the ball.

He dismissed Will Luxton and Will Sutherland in his first over and went on to add James Wharton, Dom Bess and Jordan Thompson to record a career-best 5-17 in the short format.

The final two Yorkshire wickets added 52 runs for some semblance of respectability, but Durham cantered to a third straight win with skipper Alex Lees’ 62 underpinning the innings as they chased down 129 with two overs to spare.

“That’s pretty special, coming back into the Durham team, trying to get a few wins for the boys, it’s nice to do well and contribute to that,” said Potts.

“It was a really exciting thing (debuting for England) and it was a pleasure to be able to do it at Durham with my family and friends around.”

Ben Mike returned from a hamstring injury to help Leicestershire to a much-needed win over Worcestershire at Grace Road.

The seam bowler took 3-14, including the only maiden of the match, as the home side restricted the Rapids to 150-8 despite 49 from Gareth Roderick and a handy 25 by stand-in captain Adam Hose.

Utilita Bowl: Hampshire Hawks v Surrey