Marty Smith Apr 5, 2026, 11:20 AM ET Close ESPN NASCAR lead reporter Former NASCAR.com senior writer 15 years covering NASCAR HOLYWOOD, Northern Ireland -- Tucked away on a steep hillside high above County Down, overlooking Belfast Lough, sits the 6,100-yard parkland runway from which Rory McIlroy took flight. And no matter how high he soars or how far his reach extends or how many days pass until he returns, Holywood Golf Club will always be home. Here in the Emerald Isle, golf is more than a game. It is a connector. Families. Friends. Generations. Here, there's a different reverence for history. You just ... feel it. Locals explain that the game's origins in Northern Ireland reach back 145 years to Royal Belfast, just down the hill from here. Holywood came along in 1904. And in 1994, it realized it had a prodigy on the premises.…