McIlroy getting 'even better' with age - Clarke

Former champion Darren Clarke is predicting a "really, really strong" showing from Rory McIlroy at the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush next week.

The world number two missed the cut at the same venue in 2019 but has continued to rack up wins in the years since, most notably completing the career Grand Slam with victory at the Masters in April.

The triumph in a play-off at Augusta ended an almost 11-year wait for McIlroy's fifth major with the 36-year-old from Northern Ireland having endured some heartbreaking near misses through the period.

Clarke, however, believes his compatriot is better for those experiences.

"I don't know if most people understand how big a deal it was for him to win the Grand Slam and to be only the sixth person in history to actually do it," Clarke, who won the Open at Royal St. George's in 2011, told BBC Sport NI's Stephen Watson.

"Hard to say it but he's an even better player now than he was back in those days [2019].

"He's been through everything, he's got more experience. Rory doesn't need any more - he's done it all - but I think I'd be looking for a really, really strong week from Rory."

At Royal Portrush, McIlroy, who is in the field at the Scottish Open this week, will be playing in front of a home crowd for the first time since earning his previously elusive Green Jacket, a win that Clarke believes elevates him to the status of Northern Ireland's greatest sportsperson.

"You put Rory up there with the most famous people from Northern Ireland, sporting people, in recent history. You have George Best, Dame Mary Peters up there [but] Rory to me is maybe even above them.

"He's probably, in my opinion, the best sportsperson we've ever had from Northern Ireland and, for him to achieve what he's achieved, to come here and play, it's just incredible.

"We've got the biggest tournament in the world with the latest Grand Slam champion - it just doesn't get any better."

Clarke also has high hopes for 22-year-old Tom McKibbin who, like McIlroy, learned the game at Holywood Golf Club.

McKibbin plays his golf on the LIV tour after joining the Legion XIII team of John Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton in January, but he will be in the field at an Open Championship for the second time next week.

"His talent is unquestionable. I think he's got a huge future in front of him," said Clarke, who practiced with McKibbin last week.

"Whether the LIV thing gets resolved or not at some stage, and hopefully it will get resolved, Tom's ball striking was as close to anybody's I've ever seen to Rory. I mean, it really was.

"He's a wonderful young man. He behaves himself probably a lot more than I used to. He doesn't drink. He's very, very focused on what he's doing but I was so impressed with him."