Local boy Rory makes good in US Open
Alex Thomson
Chief Correspondent
As Rory McIlroy completed his overwhelming victory in the US Open at Congressional, the celebrations were in full swing at his home town club in Northern Ireland, writes Alex Thomson.
It’s all about ownership. It’s all about family. It’s all about home.
In the steamy, friendly heat of Holywood Golf Club last night, small boys, mums, former captains in blazers – all desperate to affirm Rory is “ours”.
How long they’ve known him was almost an unofficial competition last night here as the Smithwicks and Guinness disappeared across that final round.
“D’you know him then?” I asked wide-eyed 10-year-olds way past bedtime.
“Oh yeah – like everyone here knows Rory and Gerry too you know.”
Gerry McIlroy – Rory’s father – getting the second biggest cheers and chants of the night. It’s all family, you see – close, warm and very welcoming to the row of TV cameras lined up in the clubhouse.
This one’s for you. Rory McIlroy’s message to his father, Gerry
A roar last night as, looking over to Gerry, trophy in hand, Rory said: “This one’s for you.”
No silver spoon for this son. No wealth and entitlement in this family, but real sacrifices down the line to make the boy’s dreams come true.
And last night in the clubhouse, you couldn’t get much further from the stuffy,class-conscious golf club of English folklore. Could that be why this small place, with fewer people than West Yorkshire, has produced two winners in two consecutive years?
So it is that, having lived here, I knew that the Belfast Telegraph would be hot on the ownership theme before the telly even arrived this morning.
And this morning’s headline is: “A champion… a great… and he’s ours.”
Not that everyone is smiling in Belfast this morning. Turns out Gerry McIlroy and three mates bet £100 each at 500-1 when Rory was just 12, that he’d win the Open by the time he was 25. Some worried bookies in this town today. Rory McIlroy is 22.