Rory McIlroy

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Rory McIlroy
Personal information
Full name	Rory McIlroy
Born	4 May 1989 (1989-05-04) (age 20) Holywood, Northern Ireland
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight	160 lb (73 kg; 11 st)
Nationality	Northern Ireland
Residence	Holywood, Northern Ireland
Career
Turned professional	2007
Current tour(s)	European Tour
Professional wins	1
Number of wins by tour
European Tour	1
Best results in Major Championships
The Masters	T20: 2009
U.S. Open	T10: 2009
Open Championship	T42: 2007
PGA Championship	DNP

Rory McIlroy (born 4 May 1989) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland.

Contents 1 Amateur career 2 Professional career 2.1 2007 2.2 2008 2.3 2009 3 Amateur wins (5) 4 Professional wins (1) 4.1 European Tour wins (1) 5 European Tour professional career summary 6 Results in major championships 7 Results in World Golf Championship events 8 Team appearances 9 Equipment 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Amateur career

McIlroy was born in Holywood, Northern Ireland, where he attended Sullivan Upper School and was raised as a Catholic.^[1][2] His home golf club is Holywood Golf Club. He started his early training with Michael Bannon, previously the Golf Professional of Holywood Golf Club, also his current coach and dedicated mentor.

McIlroy was a member of Europe's winning 2004 Junior Ryder Cup team.^[3] In 2005 he became the youngest ever winner of both the West of Ireland Championship and the Irish Close Championship.^[4] He retained the West of Ireland Championship in 2006 and followed that up with back to back wins at the Irish Close Championship. In August 2006 he won the European Amateur Championship at Biella Golf Club, near Milan, Italy. McIlroy won with the score of 274 (65-69-72-68). He won by three strokes over Englishman Stephen Lewton.^[5]

In July 2005, McIlroy shot a course record 61 on the Dunluce links of Royal Portrush Golf Club.^[6] In October 2006 McIlroy represented Ireland in the Eisenhower Trophy and the Amateur World Team Championship. On 6 February 2007 he became the second man to top the World Amateur Golf Rankings, though he lost the top spot after just one week.^[7]

McIlroy shot an opening round of 3 under par 68 at the 2007 Open Championship at Carnoustie which put him in a tie for third place, three shots off the lead. He was also the only person in the field without a bogey in the first round. He then shot a 5 over par 76 in round two to put him at +2 for the championship, comfortably making the cut. In the third round he shot a 2 over par 73. In the final round he shot a 72 (+1) to finish at T42. He shot +5 overall and was the lowest finishing amateur, winning the silver medal.^[8]

McIlroy was part of the Great Britain & Ireland team at the 2007 Walker Cup.^[9] On the first day of the event he was paired with Jonathan Caldwell for morning foursomes and the match was halved. In the afternoon he faced Billy Horschel in singles but Horschel won 1 up. On the second day McIlroy and Caldwell lost in morning foursomes by the score of 2 & 1. In the afternoon he faced Billy Horschel in singles again and this time he won by the score of 1 up. McIlroy's overall record was (1-2-1) in Win-Loss-Tie format. In the end the United States came out victorious by a score of 12½ to 11½.^[10]

McIlroy made his first appearance in a European Tour event a few days after turning sixteen, when he took part in the 2005 British Masters. He made the cut on the European Tour for the first time as a seventeen year old at the 2007 Dubai Desert Classic, where he had to forego prize money of over €7,600 due to his amateur status.^[11]

[edit] Professional career

[edit] 2007

McIlroy turned professional on 19 September, which was the day before the Quinn Direct British Masters. He signed with International Sports Management, a company that also manages Ernie Els, Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood and David Howell.^[12] At the British Masters, McIlroy shot 290 (+2) which put him in a tie for 42nd place.

McIlroy finished in 3rd place at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October. He finished three strokes behind the winner Nick Dougherty. Due to this performance, McIlroy put himself in position to become the youngest Affiliate Member in the history of The European Tour to earn a tour card.^[13] The next week he secured his card for 2008 by finishing in a tie for 4th place at the Open de Madrid Valle Romano. On the 2007 European Tour season, he earned €277,255 and finished in 95th place on the Order of Merit list. He was the highest ranked associate member.^[14]

[edit] 2008

Before his season started, Tiger Woods invited McIlroy to play in the 2007 Target World Challenge. He declined the invitation though, saying, "I was thrilled that they would want to invite me considering I'm only just starting out on my career." McIlroy also said "That event clashes with the European Open and that's an event I would be stupid not to play."^[15]

McIlroy started his 2008 European Tour season at the UBS Hong Kong Open. He did not make the one-under cut though, missing it by four strokes. He shot a 69 in the 1st round and looked good to make the cut from there. McIlroy slipped up in the 2nd round though and shot a 74. This poor round made him miss his first cut as a professional.^[16] He bounced back by finishing in a tie for 15th at the MasterCard Masters in Australia.

McIlroy entered the top 200 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time on 27 January 2008.

On 7 September 2008, McIlroy took a four shot lead into the final round of the Omega European Masters in Crans-Sur-Sierre, Switzerland but finished in a tie for first place with Frenchman Jean-François Lucquin after missing a four foot putt for par at the 18th hole in regulation that would have given him the outright victory. In the sudden-death playoff, both players parred the 18th hole, and in the second go-around, McIlroy missed a 1 1/2 foot par putt, giving Lucquin two putts for the victory. Lucquin subsequently holed his 15 foot birdie putt for the outright playoff victory.^[17]

McIlroy finished the 2008 season having established himself in the top 100 of the world rankings and was ranked 36th on the European Tour Order of Merit.

[edit] 2009

After finishing second in the UBS Hong Kong Open in November 2008,^[18] McIlroy attained his highest world ranking position of 50, making him the youngest ever player to make the top 50. He finished the 2008 calendar year at 39th in the world rankings after finishing joint 3rd in the South African Open. This earned him an invitation to U.S. Masters in April 2009, only 18 months after turning pro. His first professional win came when he won the Dubai Desert Classic on 1 February 2009, this win took him to 16th in the world rankings.^[19]

In the 2009 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, McIlroy reached the quarterfinals. In the first round he defeated Louis Oosthuizen 2 & 1, in the second round he beat Hunter Mahan 1-up, and in the third round he beat Tim Clark 4 & 3. He lost to Geoff Ogilvy in the quarterfinals, 2 & 1.^[20] McIlroy continued to play on the PGA Tour until May and was successful in his first string of events on tour. He finished tied for 13th at the Honda Classic, tied for 20th at the WGC-CA Championship and tied for 19th at the Shell Houston Open.

In April 2009, McIlroy appeared at The Masters in his first major tournament as a professional. He finished the tournament tied for 20th place, two shots under par for the tournament. Of the players to make the cut, McIlroy achieved the third highest average driving distance, beaten only by Dustin Johnson and Andrés Romero.^[21] McIlroy played in two more events on the PGA Tour after the Masters including his first appearance at The Players Championship where he was cut.

McIlroy then returned to Europe and recorded two top 25 finishes leading up to his first U.S. Open. He finished fifth at the BMW PGA Championship and 12th at the European Open. McIlroy played in his second major as a professional at the 2009 U.S. Open. His final round of 68 (-2) helped him finish in a tie for 10th, his first top ten finish in a major.

[edit] Amateur wins (5)

• 2005 West of Ireland Championship, Irish Close Championship
• 2006 West of Ireland Championship, Irish Close Championship, European Amateur Championship

[edit] Professional wins (1)

[edit] European Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner up
1.	1 Feb 2009	Dubai Desert Classic	-19 (64-68-67-70=269)	1 stroke	Justin Rose

[edit] European Tour professional career summary

Season	Starts	Cuts Made	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top 10	Top 25	Earnings (€)	Money list rank
2007	4	4	0	0	1	2	2	277,255	95
2008	27	16	0	1	0	6	10	696,335	36
2009	15	14	1	1	1	7	11	1,331,325	5
Career*	46	34	1	2	2	15	23	2,304,915	-

• As of 12 July 2009.

[edit] Results in major championships

Tournament	2007	2008	2009
The Masters	DNP	DNP	T20
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	T10
The Open Championship	T42 LA	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP

LA = Low Amateur
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

[edit] Results in World Golf Championship events

Tournament	2009
Accenture Match Play Championship	QF
CA Championship	T20
Bridgestone Invitational

DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

[edit] Team appearances

Amateur

• Junior Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 2004 (winners)
• Eisenhower Trophy (representing Ireland): 2006
• European Amateur Team Championship (representing Ireland): 2007 (winners)
• Walker Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2007

[edit] Equipment

• Driver- Titleist 909 D2 Shaft: Rombax 7V05 Loft: 8.5
• Fairway- Titleist906F2 13,18
• Iron- Titleist Z Muscle Forged Irons '
• Wedge- Titleist Vokey Spin Milled Wedges 56, Vokey Prototype 46, 52
• Putter- Scotty Cameron studio Select Fastback for Titleist
• Ball- Titleist ProV1x

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Profile on the European Tour's official site