Majestic Royal County Down awaits — Will Rory McIlroy’s power win out over guile?

The great Australian professional Bruce Crampton might never have won a major, but with four runner-up finishes to his credit, he still knew a thing or two about the game and what makes a golfer tick.

“Golf is a compromise between what your ego wants you to do, what experience tells you to do, and what your nerves let you do,” he once said.

And nowhere is that more apposite than at majestic Royal County Down, which will host the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at the end of next month, ending a 76-year wait for its return to the stories links that shimmers and shines in that corner of Co Down where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.