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destined to be world number one. Golf
was more or less in his genes and both his
father and uncle were scratch players.
The McIlroy family photo album
testifies to his fascination for the sport.
One picture shows him holding a blue
plastic golf club as a two year old and he
admits that by the age of seven he was at
the Holywood Golf Club, where he was
the youngest member and which remains
his home course, for up to 12 hours a day.
A few years later he tasted international
success for the first time by wining the
9-10 year-old championship at the Doral
Golf Resort and Spa in Miami.
By 15 he was part of Europe’s winning
Junior Ryder Cup team, and, in 2005,
he became the youngest winner of both
the west of Ireland and the Irish Close
Championships, titles he retained the
following year. In August 2006 he won
the European Amateur title in Italy, setting
himself up for a shot at the following
year’s Open Championship at Carnoustie
where he shot five over and took the Silver
medal as the best placed amateur.
PRECOCIOUS TALENT
In interviews he is quick to pay tribute
to his parents for the role they played
in making his career possible. Both, he
recalls, held down two or three jobs
at a time to pay the bills and
allow him to develop a
precocious talent which has seen him
rocket to the world number one slot.
While his parents provided the
foundation for his career, Tiger Woods,
now a great friend, was a hero and an
inspiration. In fact, Woods remains a
point of reference. “Your success only
makes you more motivated to do better. I
have become a very good player, but I still
have a lot of years to progress and I just
want to keep improving and hopefully one
day I will be able to compete with Tiger,”
he said after one win.
Golf writer Richard Gillis has followed
McIlroy’s career and its impact on the
commercial world. “Back home in
Northern Ireland, they’ve been making
television programmes about Rory
McIlroy since he was a schoolboy, when
he won the World Junior Championship
aged nine years old,” he said.
“His swing is a thing of beauty at a
time when sport science is threatening to
homogenise the game. The McIlroy
action balances flawless technique with a
natural rhythm some have compared to
legendary American player Sam Snead,
there is no higher compliment. People
line up behind him on the driving range,
just to get a glimpse.
“Rory is not famous for winning the US
Open. He’s famous for losing The Masters,
THEN winning the US Open. It sounds
like a little thing, but it’s the difference
between a statistic and a story. Up and
down, up and down: the ad men love a
narrative, it’s their favourite new word.
And he didn’t just lose the Masters in
2011, he was exposed in the most painful,
naked way. Golf does that to people. It’s
why the Majors matter: they keep multimillionaires
up at night.
“McIlroy’s commercial value is
obviously on the rise. He is personable,
talented and benefits from golf ’s broad
geographical footprint, making him
saleable from Beijing to Baltimore. His
recent deal with the Spanish owned bank
Santander is a watershed moment: most
golfers are used to sell clubs, shoes and
apparel. Only a small elite are trusted to be
the face of a bank.
“But there’s a conundrum at the heart
of Brand Rory. We warm to him because
he’s talented and normal, a key asset in
the post-Tiger Woods era. His values as a
person seem to be those we share ourselves.
In short, we like him. The problem is that
famous people, even the nice ones, are not
normal. It’s just not possible to earn tens of
millions of pounds, be known around the
world and live like the rest of us. We, the
general public won’t let him.”
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Indeed, the public and the media continue
to make demands on McIlroy and his
response has shone some light on his
human side. Even in the wake of his
second PGA triumph he was dragged into
a controversy when it was reported that he
would opt to represent Great Britain rather
16 | Issue 19 | Qatar Sport