McIlroy: ‘Irish Open win would be most important so far.’

World number eight Rory McIlroy has said that a victory at the 3 Irish Open in Killarney would be the most important of his career so far.

The 21-year old Holywood native has already notched up two career victories; in Dubai in 2009 and in Quail Hollow in May of this year, but speaking at the launch of EA Sports Tiger Woods 11, a computer game that features his face on the cover, McIlroy said that a victory in Killarney this weekend would be a significant achievement in his career.

“To win in front of your home crowd would be very special,” he said.

“With Padraig (Harrington) winning in Adare and Shane winning last year, it would be nice to keep that trend going of home winners. I wouldn’t put it (winning the Irish Open) ahead of a major but I’d definitely put it ahead of the two that I’ve already won, even though those wins were significant milestones.”

McIlroy is the highest ranked competitor in a strong field in Killarney, which also contains fellow Irishmen Graeme McDowell, Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry as well as in-form contenders such as Justin Rose and Francesco Molinari.

The fact that McIlroy is ranked in the world’s top ten means that at 6/1, he is the favourite going into the tournament, but being favourite is something that sits easily with McIlroy, who is in good form on the back of his third place finish at the British Open earlier this month.

“It’s fine with me. Everyone was talking about me being second favourite at St Andrews and how I was going to deal with that as well, but it’s fine. I realise that I’m the top ranked player here, so I should be the favourite, really. It’s a nice little bit of extra pressure to have.”

The event will be the first time that McIlroy has played the Killeen course, but he has been impressed with what he has seen so far and is predicting some low scores if the conditions don’t become too much of a factor.

“If you put the ball in the right position, there are a lot of chances to score out there. Most of the par fives are reachable and it’s quite a gentle start as well, so you’ll probably see a few guys four or five under through seven or eight holes this week.

“If the weather holds, there will be a lot of birdies and it will make for an exciting tournament.”