The British Open returns to Royal Portrush and it should be quite the homecoming for Rory McIlroy. He'd love nothing more than to win golf's oldest championship on his home soil of Northern Ireland.

And it will happened, again, when Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush hosts the 153rd edition of the game’s oldest major. In turn, it will create anxiousness for the 156 players in the field waiting to see if where their names land on the starter’s sheet and whether that might leave them on the “good” or “bad” side of the draw.

Royal Portrush will host the 153rd Open Championship for only the third time in its history. Six years ago Irishman Shane Lowry made his major breakthrough, a popular winner once home favourite Rory McIlroy missed the cut. Here the PA news agency looks at this year’s event in Northern Ireland.