[immoceefe]

Something some of you might be interested in, especially in light of the phenominal week Rory has just had.. Here you go tho, and interview with the lad when he was 17 years old, and a formidable amateur. The following text talks about him as a kid and so on..

I do hope ye enjoy.





McIlroy watches Woods, Els and Clarke play an exhibition in Dubai

It was long after he had ceased giving his parents an early morning wake up call by whacking them over the head with a plastic golf club and several years after he had started referring to himself as Rory ‘Nick Faldo’ McIlroy.

“Come and look at this boy,” called a wee voice from the living room. Rosie left her chores and headed for the telly. “Look at this boy Mum,” said a then seven-year-old McIlroy, the future European No 1 amateur and the fourth ranked in the world at the end of 2006.

Tiger Woods had just dusted off Steve Scott at the 38th to complete a hat-trick of US Amateur Championship victories and McIlroy could see straight away that this was a player who was going to be something special. It was also the beginning of a new obsession for a young man that many have tipped as the best thing to come out of Ulster since Darren Clarke, George Best and The Undertones.

Comparing McIlroy with Woods is an exercise in futility but there are parallels between them that bear telling. Both were hitting golf balls before they were out of nappies and breaking par before their 10th birthday. Both have that wonderful knack of holing crucial putts when they absolutely must hole them. And both were household names in their native land before they took the plunge into the dark, deep waters of professional golf.

When Woods turned professional at the Greater Milwaukee Open in August 1996, his first words at the obligatory news conference were a prophetic: “Hello World.” As a proud son of Ulster and a native of Holywood, County Down, McIlroy is more likely to say something like: “How’s about you.” Or perhaps not.

With his place in the 2007 Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup side at Royal County Down looking as good a bet as windy day at Rosses Point, McIlroy plans to say hello to the world of professional golf on September 10 and make his professional debut in the Quinn Direct British Masters the following week.

That event will be promoted by Chubby Chandler’s International Management Group, the red hot favourites to ‘sign up’ the most prodigious golfing talent to emerge from Ireland since Clarke traded his barman’s apron for a cashmere overcoat and a healthy overdraft.

When Chandler joined forces with Clarke at the start of the 1990s, he knew he would always have business. No doubt he feels the same way about McIlroy, the Wee Man to his northern brethern, and a player whose amateur record may well put Clarke’s in the shade before he’s finished.

Clarke won the South in 1989 and then took the Close, the North, the East and the Spanish Amateur in 1990. In 2005, McIlroy became the youngest winner in the history of both the West (aged 15) and Irish Close Championship (aged 16) before going round Royal Portrush in any almost sacrilegious 11 under par 61 to lead the qualifiers in the North.

His feat in going out and winning the West and Close again in 2006 before crushing the opposition in the European Individual Amateur Championship last August was not so much an encore as a whole new recital. As a result of his European title win, he is set make his major championship debut in the Open at Carnoustie next July.

Who knows what this young man, who does not celebrate his 18th birthday until May 4, can achieve in the game? Well, Clarke does.

“I think he is going to be sensational,” Clarke said recently. “He is as big a talent as I have seen for a very long time. He has his head screwed on. He knows exactly what he is doing and his record speaks for itself. There are not many Irish amateurs that have the record that he has. He has been capped for Ireland at every level and he has successfully defended every championship he has ever won. That is a scary stat.

“He has already played professional tournaments - quite a few - and he knows the story now. It is not as if he is going to come into this totally green. I had not played that many professional tournaments before turning pro. But he as played quite a few now. He has travelled around the world. He has won around the world. And if you take a look at what Tiger does, he travels around the world and he wins around the world.


PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK TO CONTINUE READING, I COULDNT FIT IT ALL IN HERE
http://www.irishgolfdesk.com/news-fi...y-mcilroy.html

[johnuioyer]

thanks coco, that was cool. i'm a huge mcilroy fan and i thought it was great how the guys hung out after he won in charlotte, that in itself speaks volumes about this young man. i hope his back stays healthy b/c he sure is fun to watch.

[immoceefe]

he sure is fun to watch, we have been following him out here for years.. simply amazing.
Have a lot of high hopes for him, should be great for us on this little island having Rory, Padraig and Graham McDowell competing on the US tour quite often. Hopefully Graham can get back in form and over the injury that held him back a bit.



From my local town we have 2 15 yr old twins(girls), they will be phenomenal too on tour we suspect.. they are turning pro at 18.

[ceagsoosy]

good read Coco, he is a great kid and I see big things for him