Rory’s fine form from Dubai continued in 2009 – just weeks after lifting his first Euro Tour trophy in Dubai, he proved his mettle in the Accenture World Matchplay Championships in reaching the quarter-finals. It was another important notch on his belt as he showed the pro golfing world that he was here to stay – and here to become the best.
In the first round of the event he defeated Louis Oosthuizen 2 & 1, in the second he beat Hunter Mahan 1-up – and in the third ended the hopes of Tim Clark 4 & 3. He only bowed out when he came across the eventual winner Geoff Ogilvy in the quarter-finals, 2 & 1.
Naturally, he was disappointed to have exited in the quarters but maintained he had done all he could. He said he had enjoyed the experience and would learn from it – and also predicted, correctly, that Ogilvy would go on to lift the coveted trophy. Rory said: ‘I couldn’t have done much more. Geoff just played great today – I expected it as he is a Major champion and has won two world golf championships. I made a few birdies, but Geoff made a few more and I couldn’t do anything about it. I think he will be very hard to beat.’
At the post-event press conference he was asked if he changed tactics when up against someone like Ogilvy, who was making so many birdies. He answered: ‘A little. He got two up on me after 12 and didn’t birdie the par five so I managed to get one back at me, but then he threw three in a row at me to finish me off. I just tried to keep doing what I was doing and making birdies, and it was very nice to make that putt on the 16th to keep the match going, but then he holed one on 17 to shut me out. But I have taken a lot from it. It is my first time in America and I have played great, which has given me a lot of confidence. I have hit it great and battled well when I needed to – it’s been great.’
So, how did he rate his final morning’s work in the Championship?
‘I played pretty well. I made a couple of bogeys, but some birdies and didn’t do too many things wrong and I just came up against Geoff, who was playing great. He threw eight birdies at me and I just couldn’t keep it going. It was nice to hole the putt on 16 to keep the match alive, but when he threw three in a row I couldn’t do anything about it. I’ve learnt that I can compete out there and I am able to hang with the best in the world. It is great for my confidence that I have come out in my first event in America and done so well.’
It was pointed out to him that Tiger Woods had not won ‘a tournament like you did in the desert.’ He was then asked if he now craved Woods’ No. 1 spot, if this was his ultimate ambition. ‘It would be great to get that accolade one day,’ he admitted, ‘but I am just trying to play my golf, keep improving and see where it gets me. I am not trying to set any major goals like that as Tiger is Tiger. He has been the best in the world for the last 10 years and I see no reason why he won’t be for another few years – I just want to try and get in the Top 10 in the world and see how it goes from there.’
He continued to play on the PGA Tour until May 2009 and 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. At the latter, he said that he wanted eventually to join the PGA TOUR but was adamant that for the next few years he expected to play primarily on the European Tour.
One of his own personal highlights of 2009 came in April when he appeared at The Masters in his first Major tournament as a professional. He did himself credit, finishing tied for 20th place, 2 shots-under-par for the event. Of the players to make the cut, McIlroy achieved the third-highest average driving distance, beaten only by Dustin Johnson and Andres Romero.
Before action got underway at The Masters, Rory had sounded like an excited schoolboy. He said: ‘I’m very excited to be here. It’s my second trip to Augusta, but first Masters week. It’s great. It’s a huge thrill to be here, and it’s been a dream of mine for a long time to be able to play in The Masters. For that dream to finally come true is a pretty special feeling.
‘It’s a week that I’m going to enjoy and hopefully, I’ll be playing pretty well. Hopefully, I can pick up some valuable experience. If it doesn’t quite work out this week, I’ll hopefully have plenty more times to try to do well.’
He revealed that he was also enjoying his new star status, especially after fans queued to get his autograph: ‘It’s great. Obviously I’ve received a lot of attention the last few weeks and you know you’re doing things well when you are. I wasn’t able to sign that many autographs – I was rushing to the range to hit a few balls before I went out. After I’ve done this [press conference], I’ll sign as many as I can.’
Asked if he ever worried that he might be being pushed in at the deep end too early, too quickly and suffer – as, say, Justin Rose seemed to – he responded: ‘I think it’s down to the mental capacity that a certain individual has. I’m not one to get overwhelmed by much; I just go about my business and play my golf and if it’s good enough then so be it. But playing on Tour at such an early age, I don’t feel like a 19-year-old – I feel I’ve matured very quickly since coming on Tour. It’s obviously a great position to be in, and one that I’ve wanted to get to for a long time. Now that I’m here, I want to make the most of it and become the best player that I can.’
He said he wasn’t nervous and wasn’t overawed; that the win in Dubai had done the world of good for his confidence and self-esteem: ‘It gave me a lot of confidence, beating a field like that, that had at the time the No. 2 player in the world – that had maybe seven or eight of the Top 15 in the world. It gave me a lot of motivation to try and go on and do better. To get into the Majors and to get into the big championships, it’s just another step in the progression and hopefully I can keep progressing for a long time.’
After The Masters Rory played in two more events on the PGA Tour, including his first appearance at The Players Championship, where he was cut. He then returned to Europe and finished 5th at the BMW PGA Championship and 12th at the European Open.
At the BMW he was asked if he ever pinched himself at the way his career was soaring upwards and how he kept his feet on the ground, how he coped with ever-growing stardom when he was just 20. He said: ‘It’s still very early in my career and to achieve what I have has been very good, but I’ve worked hard for it and I was given the talent by someone and I’ve made the most of it. I’ve tried to become the best golfer that I can. I’m going to try and keep working hard, and try to get better.
‘When I get home, most of my friends are at university so they are either back in Belfast or there’s a few in Dundee, a few in Edinburgh, a few in Newcastle. But every chance that I get to see them and see my family when I’m home, I do, and that’s why I feel it’s so important to take breaks and to take a couple of weeks off here or there – to go home and relax and get away from all this.
‘Like I said before, it’s like two different lives – I’ve got my life out here where I’m working hard and trying to win golf tournaments, and my life back home where I’ve got my family and my friends, my girlfriend and just trying to be a normal guy.’
And the top-five finish in the BMW had added to his ever-growing confidence: ‘This is a great week for me because it’s put me back on track, another top-five finish. I feel as if I’ve got the game to go and win there next week [at the European Open], so this is hopefully a good building block for the rest of the season.’
Of course, he would not win at the European but it was good to see how he was progressing as a golfer and a person, how he was starting to believe in himself and flourishing as a result. That newfound confidence would surface during the rest of 2009, in particular as he chalked up two tremendous results in two of the next three Majors in which he would participate.
At the US Open in June, the American media were keen to build up the idea that Rory would now be the main contender to their hero, Tiger. But he played it down, adding he was not going to obsess about beating Woods: ‘If he plays the way he did the last round at Memorial, then no [he wouldn’t beat him]. But I can’t control what he does or what anyone else does in the field, I just have to go out and play my golf. If it’s good enough, it’s good enough. If it’s not, then so be it.
‘So, guys don’t go into Majors thinking I have to do this to beat Tiger, I have to do that to beat Tiger – they go in and they concentrate on their own game. If their own game at the end of the day isn’t good enough then that’s the way it goes.’
Rory finished tied for 10th in his first US Open at Bethpage and declared himself ‘delighted’ to be on equal billing with the likes of Sergio Garcia and 2003 Masters winner Mike Weir. In the final round he carded a 2-under-par 68 to achieve his first Top 10 finish in a Major.
He said: ‘It’s been a great week – a long one – but I feel like I have done very well. I have made a great start to my Majors career: 10th here and 20th in The Masters. I feel I have the game to compete in Majors and those results have given me a lot of confidence. I knew I shot a couple of 70s and 72s in the first rounds and I knew the guys were lighting it up a bit. I knew if I just hung around and stayed patient, around level par would be a very good result in this tournament and that’s what I was trying to do today to get back to level. It didn’t quite happen – I got it to plus 1 for the tournament but finished at plus 2. But I can take a lot from the week.’
Rory then went on to play in his first Open as a pro, but it was not as successful as he might have hoped. He turned up at Turnberry in Scotland as one of the favourites and said he felt he could do justice to that tag. ‘I’ve proved to myself that I do have the game to get around Major championships,’ he declared. ‘It’s about staying patient – as long as I stay patient and don’t get ahead of myself, I know my game can stand up to the hardest test in golf. I sometimes say to myself this is only your second Open championship, you’ll have 20 or 30 more of these – there’s no point trying to rush into things. But there’s also a part of me that says, “You know you’ve got the game to do well here.”
‘It’s a balance between having the right expectations and trying to fulfil those. It’s hard because walking up the 18th, you catch yourself thinking, “Oh, what if this happens or that happens, how good would it be to win The Open.” It’s something you’ve got to deal with – I’m getting better and better at it every week. I’ve got a little bit of form. I had a good session on the range last night with Michael Bannon, my coach, and I feel like I’m hitting the ball really well going into the tournament. I just hope to go out there and keep it out of the rough. If I can shoot somewhere around 70 every day, I think that will be pretty good.’
He also felt the fact that Turnberry was a links course would tell in his favour: ‘The greens remind me quite a bit of Carnoustie, the way there’s a few runoffs and the way the bunkers sort of set up at you. And obviously I’ve played a lot of links golf growing up – I hope it should help me. I feel as if I’ve got all the shots that are required to play good golf on links courses. We don’t get to play a lot on the Tour – it’s nice to get back to a links course. It’s like riding a bicycle: once you’re on it, you somehow remember all the shots you need for it, little pitch-and-runs and little punch shots into the wind and so forth. I feel very comfortable on links; hopefully that will show this week.’
The dream wasn’t to be – Rory ended up tied for 47th, with Stewart Cink beating Tom Watson in a playoff to win the 138th Open and complete his maiden Major victory. But Rory is a young man who never gives up, who learns from adversity and determines to use that experience to move forward once again. Which is just what he did after the setback at Turnberry, finishing tied for 3rd in the US PGA Championship in Minnesota with a 3-under-par total of 285 (with rounds of 71, 73, 71 and 70). It was his best performance yet in a Major – and one that boosted his confidence after the setback at Turnberry.
Even before the first round, he had felt he was going to have a good tournament when asked by reporters how he thought he had fared so far in Majors. He said: ‘For my first year in the Majors, I’ve done very well. I’ve had a Top 20 at The Masters, finished 10th at the US Open, but was pretty disappointed at Turnberry not to finish higher. The thing about Majors is it’s almost easier to get yourself into position to do well rather than in a normal tournament because you don’t have to make as many birdies. You can just grind a few pars out and shoot a few decent scores around level par and you’ll know that you’ll not be far away.
‘I’ve learned how to be patient in these events because you have to be. You can’t go out chasing scores in these tournaments because a couple of bad shots here and there can cost you two or three shots, and two or three shots in these tournaments is a lot. It’s about trying to put yourself into position to where, going into the last day, you can have a chance to contend and put in a good finish.’
On his final round Rory started with a double bogey but notched four birdies on the front nine to make the turn on 2-under-par. A bogey on 12 was redeemed by a birdie on 14 and four pars on the way home brought Rory that tied 3rd place, with old pal Lee Westwood.
Afterwards, Rory was understandably jubilant. He explained how he had kept his nerve despite that double-bogey start: ‘The first hole has not been kind to me this week – I’ve had three bogeys and I didn’t get off to the best start. But after that I just played really good golf. I missed a couple of chances on the way in, but I got a couple of really good up-and-downs on 17 and 18, which got me where I was. For the last Major of the year, I feel as if I’ve put in a really strong finish and I’m really pleased with myself.
‘I’ve been very patient – I didn’t get flustered when I made a 6 at the first, I knew that I had a few chances on the front nine to get it back. I had four birdies after that on the front nine to turn at 2-under and the back nine was playing very tough today. To shoot level par on that back nine with this wind, I felt was a really good effort. I just stayed patient and I knew I would have chances out there. I felt a 70 out there [with crosswinds affecting play] was very good.’
The reporters also pointed out 17 birdies in a Major on a course that proved difficult to play was also truly impressive. Rory agreed: ‘Yes, it is, considering I only made five birdies last week at Akron, so it’s been a bit of a difference. But I like the greens out here and I felt as if I could do well on this golf course. It’s a big, long golf course which usually suits me and I felt comfortable on it since the day we arrived.
‘It’s been a great week for me. I’m now looking forward to getting home and will reflect on my play in the Majors during the couple weeks I have off – I feel very pleased the way I played them, I have a lot to build on. I have a lot of momentum going into the Majors next year. This is only my first year in the Majors, so I learned a few things on my way. Hopefully they will help me next year to get in a couple of better finishes than just the Top 10 or Top 5.’
The brilliant result and joy on Rory’s face contrasted sharply with Tiger Woods’ depression as he unbelievably blew what had seemed an inevitable victory, allowing South Korea’s Y. E. Yang to sneak home. The PGA’s own website (PGA.com) best summed up the shock outcome: ‘On Sunday, with the world watching and expecting Tiger Woods to march confidently to his 15th major championship win, a far different story unfolded. Yang, a 37-year-old, second-year player on the PGA Tour, entered the final round of the 91st PGA Championship at Hazeltine tied for second with Padraig Harrington, trailing Woods by two shots. It seemed like Yang was simply going to have a front-row seat to witness Woods do what he does best – close out another Major.
‘Until Sunday, Woods was a perfect 14-of-14 when leading a Major after 54 holes. But as rays of sunshine poked abundantly through scattered clouds over the 18th hole Sunday evening, the formerly insurmountable Woods was finally undone. From 210 yards away in the left side of the fairway and with an obstructed view to the green because of a cluster of towering trees, Yang delivered a glorious 3-hybrid approach shot that landed like a feather and settled just six feet from the hole, setting up a fist pump-inducing birdie to put an exclamation point on an unexplainable, unbelievable triumph over the world’s No. 1 player. Yang’s final tally was 8-under-par 280, a shocking three shots better than Woods, the second-place finisher.’
And the outcome gave Rory a further lift after his third place finish: he finally knew for sure that the previously invincible Tiger was now very beatable. The era of the Northern Irishman at the expense of the legend was getting closer and closer, no doubt about it. As one man moved ever upward, another seemed on an inexorable downward spiral. The times they were a changin’ in the golfing echelons.
At the end of September 2009, Rory chalked up more success in helping Great Britain and Ireland win the Vivendi Trophy for the fifth successive time. In his first team event as a pro, he beat world No. 5 Henrik Stenson on the final green in Paris. Graeme McDowell followed up with a 3&2 victory over Robert Karlsson – which meant Continental Europe had lost with seven games still on the course. The Brits eventually ran out 16½–11½ winners.
Rory went round in a 6-under-par 65 and said he hoped the display would earn him a Ryder Cup place a year on: ‘I’d be lying if I said my hands weren’t a little shaky over the putt on the last. It’s great for the team as well because we haven’t really got off to the best of starts today and it’s good to put a point on the board early. It’s been a fantastic week and I’ll be very disappointed if I don’t make the Ryder Cup now.
‘This is my first professional team event and I’ve played very, very well. It’s been a very good week. To beat Henrik in the singles is a nice feeling – he’s played a couple of Ryder Cups and he’s in the Top 5 in the world.’
As 2009 drew to a close, things would get even better for Rory. He finished the season in 2nd place behind Lee Westwood in the inaugural European Tour Race to Dubai. Then, in the November, he entered the Top 10 of the world rankings for the first time – the youngest player to do so since Sergio Garcia. The year concluded with Rory ranked 9th in the world and with the legendary Gary Player praising the Northern Irish boy as the ‘most exciting young player in the world.’
Lavish praise indeed, but as 2010 dawned Rory would prove that he was worthy of it. Within four months, he would have won his first PGA tournament to add to the Dubai Euro Tour event already under his belt. The world was literally at his feet, although he would first have to suffer a minor blip.