Ireland is a sporting nation that boasts a number of its own sports, such as Gaelic football and hurling. Beyond that, horse racing, football and rugby are also hugely popular. However, competing with those is golf, a sport widely played on the Emerald Isle, which is home to more than 500 courses. That is a massive number for a nation of fewer than eight million people.
Given this golfing culture and wealth of facilities, it is no surprise that the country, though we should really say island, has provided some fantastic players over the years. In this article, we will take a look at the best golfers the island of Ireland – both the north and the south – has ever produced.
Rory McIlroy
In truth, Rory is the main reason we have focused on both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland as a collective. The Holywood native was born and raised in County Down, Northern Ireland and has in the past claimed he had “always felt more British than Irish”. Identity is complex, and McIlroy, raised as a Catholic in Northern Ireland, has claimed to be a “proud Ulsterman who grew up in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom”.
However, in the same open letter, back in 2012, he also stated that he was a “proud product of Irish golf and the Golfing Union of Ireland”. He first represented Ireland at the age of 10, and after deciding to miss the 2016 Olympics, he went on to play for them in the 2020 and 2024 Games.
Whatever his nationality, identity, religion or anything else, however, Rory is the greatest golfer ever born on the island of Ireland. That, as far as we are concerned, is beyond debate.
No Irish player (and when we use that phrase now, we refer to the island as a whole) has won more majors than Rory. He is also, of course, the only one to have landed the career Grand Slam, being one of just six players (including four Americans and one South African, Gary Player) to have achieved that feat.
| Year | Major Won | Course |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | U.S. Open | Congressional, USA |
| 2012 | PGA Championship | Kiawah Island, USA |
| 2014 | Open Championship | Royal Liverpool, England |
| 2014 | PGA Championship | Valhalla, USA |
| 2025 | Masters | Augusta National, USA |
| 2026 | Masters | Augusta National, USA |
His six majors put him tied 12th on the all-time list, three clear of the next-best Irish player. He is also the only player from the Emerald Isle to have been ranked number one in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). McIlroy has spent 122 weeks at the top, spread over several spells, and only four men have been world number one longer.
He has been sensational over the years for the European Ryder Cup team, playing eight times and only once failing to collect fewer than two points. He has long been a leader of that team, too, and also more widely in golf in general, particularly for the PGA Tour against the challenge from LIV.
On top of all that, he also boasts two wins at the unofficial fifth major, The Players, plus numerous further huge triumphs. Those include three World Golf Championship victories, and he has also been crowned Race to Dubai champion seven times, leaving him just one shy of Colin Montgomerie’s record eight wins in what used to be called the Order of Merit.
Pádraig Harrington
Harrington cannot come close to matching that incredible CV, and whether or not he is the second-best Irish golfer ever is open to debate. However, the Dubliner boasts three major championships to his name and no other Irish golfer can match that (Rory aside).
| Year | Major Won | Course |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Open Championship | Carnoustie, Scotland |
| 2008 | Open Championship | Royal Birkdale, England |
| 2008 | PGA Championship | Oakland Hills, USA |
Harrington was born in 1971 in Dublin and has represented Ireland 11 times at the World Cup, nine more than McIlroy. He also, unlike his more illustrious golfing colleague, managed to win it, doing so in 1997, alongside Paul McGinley.
Harrington won the 2007 Open Championship and then defended it a year later, putting him in a small elite of players to have defended a major. 2008 was a remarkable year for him, too, as he also added the PGA Championship. Those wins helped him become number three in the world in the summer of 2008. Incredibly, all three wins saw him come from behind in the final round, by a combined 11 shots, indicative of his steely resolve.
Darren Clarke
Clarke won The Open Championship in 2011 and is one of a small number of Irish golfers to have tasted major championship glory. He won 28 times as a pro and made it as high as number eight in the OWGR, back in 2001. In 2022, he also won the Senior Open Championship and played for Ireland and Europe at the World Cup and Ryder Cup, respectively.
Open Championship 2011 Top 10
| Position | Player | Par Score | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darren Clarke | -5 (275) | £900,000 |
| =2 | Dustin Johnson | -2 (278) | £427,447 |
| =2 | Phil Mickelson | -2 (278) | £427,447 |
| 4 | Thomas Bjørn | -1 (279) | £260,000 |
| =5 | Chad Campbell | E (280) | £181,666 |
| =5 | Rickie Fowler | E (280) | £181,666 |
| =5 | Anthony Kim | E (280) | £181,666 |
| 8 | Raphaël Jacquelin | +1 (281) | £134,502 |
| =9 | Simon Dyson | +2 (282) | £104,333 |
| =9 | Sergio García | +2 (282) | £104,333 |
| =9 | Davis Love III | +2 (282) | £104,333 |
Clarke is from Northern Ireland and was born in County Tyrone in 1968. Like Harrington, his competitive years are behind him, but he will long be remembered for his charisma and charm. His love of a cigar and a pint of Guinness, plus the way he wore his heart on his sleeve, won him lots of friends. He was open with his emotions, especially concerning his wife, for whom he cared when she was diagnosed with primary then secondary breast cancer, and his performance at the 2006 Ryder Cup, little over a month after she died, was magnificent.
Fred Daly
Few modern fans will be familiar with another golfer from Northern Ireland, but Daly won the 1947 Open Championship. He never competed in the other three majors but won 28 times during his career and had a stupendous run of results at The Open between 1946 and 1952. He finished T8, 1, 2, missed cut, T3, T4, 3 and made the top 12 in 1953 and 1955 as well.
Graeme McDowell
McDowell is another NI player for this list, and the 2010 US Open champion was born in Portrush, County Antrim. Portrush has hosted The Open three times, McDowell finishing 57th there in 2019. He switched to play LIV Golf in 2022 when that rival tour began and made it as high as number four in the world in 2011. He boasts four PGA wins and 11 on the European Tour.
Shane Lowry
Lowry is another larger-than-life character who has represented Ireland and Europe brilliantly over the years. He won the 2019 Open Championship at Portrush, and local fans were happy to cheer him on, even though he was born and lives south of the border (in County Westmeath and Dublin, respectively).
Open Championship 2019 Top 10
| Position | Player | Par Score | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shane Lowry | -15 (269) | £1,935,000 |
| 2 | Tommy Fleetwood | -9 (275) | £1,120,000 |
| 3 | Tony Finau | -7 (277) | £718,000 |
| =4 | Brooks Koepka | -6 (278) | £503,500 |
| =4 | Lee Westwood | -6 (278) | £503,500 |
| =6 | Rickie Fowler | -5 (279) | £313,000 |
| =6 | Tyrrell Hatton | -5 (279) | £313,000 |
| =6 | Robert MacIntyre | -5 (279) | £313,000 |
| =6 | Danny Willett | -5 (279) | £313,000 |
| 10 | Patrick Reed | -4 (280) | £223,000 |
Lowry made it to the top 10 of the world rankings in 2025 and has finished inside the top four in all four majors, coming second in the 2016 US Open. He also boasts a WGC win to his name, has appeared in three Ryder Cups and, for Ireland, three World Cups.
Paul McGinley
There are other Irish players who we could have included, who, like McGinley, have not won a major. However, we include the 2014 Ryder Cup captain, who hails from Dublin, partly because he won the World Cup with Ireland alongside Harrington in 1997. McGinley played in the event a massive 13 times and also ended on the winning side in all four of the Ryder Cups he played in or captained. He won four times on the European Tour, including the Volvo Masters in 2005.