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When Rory McIlroy made an appearance on Northern Irish television at age 9, it was clear he was a special talent. Yet few people, perhaps with the exception of Gerry, Rory’s father, and a few of his friends, could have imagined that the youngster would become an Open Champion one day.
Through support from his family, and parents who toiled to help their son achieve his dreams, McIlroy has established himself as one of the best golfers in modern history, and one of the finest British players to lift the Claret Jug.
Born in Northern Ireland in 1989, it only took McIlroy two years of life to fall in love with the game of golf. Gerry McIlroy was an accomplished player, and the younger McIlroy caught the golf bug quickly.
“I just looked like a kid that loved golf,” McIlroy said of his early years. “I just really had a passion for the game. Swinging the golf club in the front room every day or chipping balls into the washing machine, I just loved the game.
“I was always fixated with it for a very long time from a very young age and it all started as my dad’s whole side of the family were golfers and we grew up very close to the golf course. My dad was a good amateur player, a scratch golfer, so it just all stemmed from there.
“I was never pushed into it in any way. If anything it was the other way around. I had to drag my dad out to the golf course so I was never pushed into playing golf. It was always my ambition, my dream, I had to drag my dad out to the golf course to play so it was pure, pure joy and pure passion for me.”
To read more from Rory McIlroy on his journey to Open glory, visit https://www.theopen.com/Latest/Rory-McIlroy-Unseen.
The R&A