Why does Rory McIlroy play golf for Ireland, not GB, at the Olympics?

Rory McIlroy is competing for Ireland in the men’s Olympic golf tournament this week as the Northern Irishman attempts to get back on track after a difficult few weeks.

McIlroy finished an agonising second at the US Open after faltering on the final holes as Bryson DeChambeau steamed through to take victory and deny McIlroy a first major win for a decade. He slumped out of The Open at Royal Troon as another year went by without a major trophy.

But the Olympic Games offer a rare chance for golfers to win something different. McIlroy plays alongside Ireland’s Shane Lowry at Paris’s Le Golf National this week, while Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood represent Team GB.

McIlroy is from Holywood near Belfast, and Olympians from Northern Ireland are allowed to choose whether they represent the Republic of Ireland or Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the United Kingdom), given the nation’s divided history. “Team GB” is a piece of branding that controversially excludes Northern Ireland, and there have been calls in the past to rebadge as “Team UK”.

Ahead of the competition in Toyko three years ago, he had the choice of representing either team but explained that he chose Ireland simply because “he has always” in international golf. McIlroy has said he “feels more British” than Irish but always played under the Irish flag when competing on a national stage as a junior and felt no need to switch allegiances for the Games in Tokyo.

Rory McIlroy of Team Ireland tees off in practice (Getty Images)

“I made it more difficult for myself than I needed to,” McIlroy explained when announcing the decision. “My feeling towards it was more ‘What will other people think?’ Once I got that out of my head and just tried to do what was right for me, then it became easy. It was me wrestling with all of those things.

“As I said, previously, once I left trying not to upset anyone aside, then it was actually a pretty easy decision. The decision was I’m going to play golf for the country or the nation that I’ve always played for through my junior and amateur days and now into the professional game.

“Even though the Olympics has given me this choice, there really wasn’t a choice because all I’ve done throughout my life is play golf for Ireland so why would that change just because the tournament has changed. That was my decision.”