Reigning Masters champion Rory McIlroy has set his sights on an Australian Open victory at Royal Melbourne after applauding tournament organisers for ditching the mixed format and returning the 121-year-old event to Melbourne’s famed Sandbelt region.

The Northern Irishman, who completed the career grand slam with his emotional triumph at Augusta National in April, has returned to Australia for the first time in 11 years.

He is on a quest for a second Stonehaven Cup after defeating Adam Scott on the final hole at Royal Sydney in 2013.

The world No.2 has played several practice rounds at the renowned Composite course at Royal Melbourne and cannot wait to tee off in round one with a marquee grouping alongside Scott and PGA Tour winner Min Woo Lee.

“Yeah, it’s been a very warm welcome; first time in Australia in quite a while, so I’ve been excited to come back,” McIlroy told reporters on Wednesday. “It hasn’t been a secret that I’ve wanted to come back as well.”

Co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour, organisers Golf Australia trialled a concurrent men’s and women’s Australian Open split across two golf courses from 2022 to 2024 to much controversy. Both men and women complained of the schedule and course set-up while there were TV broadcast dilemmas. There was also a dubious secondary cut after three rounds in 2022.

Now the Open has established a home on the Sandbelt – it heads down the road to Kingston Heath in 2026 with McIlroy signed on to return – and restored standalone stages for the men and women, McIlroy said he hopes the Australian Open can relive its glory days of the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

“I think just with obviously the wonderful golf courses that we play over the next couple of years and also the change in the format and going back to the traditional Australian Open probably helped that too. I’m just really excited to be back,” he said.

“If you look at the world of golf right now, there are three pretty big tournaments going on on the same week. You’ve got Tiger’s [Hero World Challenge] in the Bahamas, the [DP World Tour’s] Nedbank Challenge in South Africa and here. I’d say this tournament [Australian Open] has lost a little bit of what it had say 30, 40 years ago.

“There’s so much golf and there’s so many tournaments, the eyeballs are divided and the interest in every one of those tournaments this week is probably not as high as it should be. I think [the Australian Open] in particular, because of the history, the tradition, deserves to be a standalone tournament. Hopefully one day, the powers that be put together a schedule where the biggest and best tournaments and oldest ones with the most heritage can be elevated and stand on their own.”

McIlroy has already declared 2025 is the best year of his career given it includes a maiden green jacket at Augusta National, a second Players Championship win at TPC Sawgrass and a first Pebble Beach Pro-Am win, an Irish Open, a seventh European order of merit and an away Ryder Cup win at Bethpage.

But McIlroy still wants more. Specifically, to end the year with Australian Open glory at the Composite course at Royal Melbourne.

“Australia has been a very big part of my golfing journey going back to playing the Australian Open as an amateur back in 2005,” McIlroy said. “I’ve talked about trying to win at some of the most important venues in golf and this week is one of them. You think about the [Australian Opens] people have won at Royal Melbourne and how highly regarded it is.  The quality of the golf down here, the players from here and how excited [the fans are]; it just feels like this country is starved of top level golf.”

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Main Image: Carl Recine