Teen phenom McIlroy balancing growing talent with growing up

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Still in awe of his golf idols, 19-year-old Rory McIlroy now signs autographs for his own growing fan contingent

Feb. 28, 2009
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents

MARANA, Ariz. -- Rory McIlroy keeps all of his signed golf balls, the ones he got from Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance and Mark O'Meara, among others, tucked safely in a drawer in his bedroom.

He has a 2002 Masters flag signed by his idol Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo's autograph on one from the 2005 Open Championship at St. Andrews. There are many others hanging around his house in Holywood, a Belfast suburb, too.

In so many ways, this apple-cheeked 19-year-old with abundant brown curls poking out from under his cap seems like any other teen. He follows Manchester United and likes music, movies and driving his souped-up Audi -- although not necessarily in that order.

McIlroy even planned to stay up late Thursday night in his Arizona hotel so he could call his girlfriend before she went off to high school back home in Northern Ireland.

On the golf course, though, this man-child, already a winner on the European Tour, can hold his own with the big boys -- as McIlroy has done this week at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.

McIlroy soundly ousted the Tiger-slayer, Tim Clark, in Friday's third round by a 4-and-3 margin. He beat Louis Oosthuizen in his opener and then held tough against Hunter Mahan, one of the American heroes at last year's Ryder Cup, in the second round.

Next up is Geoff Ogilvy, the Australian not-so-wee "Ice-mon," who has a 14-2 record in the Accenture Match Play Championship, which includes the title in 2006 and a runner-up finish the following year. Saturday's quarterfinal will mark the first time the two have ever played together.

"He's obviously a great player," Ogilvy said. "I've been hearing all the stories. ... He obviously hits it great. Obviously makes a lot of putts if he does as well as he does. So I'm sure I'm going to have my work cut out, and it will be fun to play with him."

What kind of stories has Ogilvy heard? Well, Mark O'Meara's words certainly didn't go unnoticed, although Ogilvy wasn't sure who actually had uttered them.

"Ball-striking-wise at 19, he's probably better than what Tiger was at 19," O'Meara said after playing with McIlroy in the first two rounds of the Dubai Desert Classic, which the Ulsterman went on to win.

"His technique I think is better. Certainly Tiger has developed his game and swing over the years and made modifications to be able to hit the ball pin-high, but Rory is already doing that, and he's 19, so he's already a step ahead."

McIlroy took O'Meara's words as a "mind-blowing" compliment. And Ogilvy had no way of knowing, but about 30 minutes earlier, Ernie Els, who won a conceded match after Luke Donald had to retire with a wrist injury, was stoking the fire, too.

"He's hungry, as we say," Els said. "He's going to be a major factor in world golf. I think that you're probably looking at the next No. 1 in the world with him. He's got all the tools."

McIlroy, whose father Gerry used to take extra bartending shifts and his mother worked nights in a factory to support his career, appeared humbled by the words of a three-time major champion who has spent nine weeks atop the Official World Golf Ranking.

"I still have got a long way to go," he said. "And my main goal is to try to get into the top 10 in the world and then if I can do that, I'll try and get to No. 2 and then Tiger comes back fit and strong.

"You've just got to go out there and play golf, that's all you've got to do. Just try and make birdies and try and shoot good scores, and the rest will take care of itself."

Still, McIlroy's ascent has been an impressive one. He turned pro at the age of 18 after playing in the Walker Cup in 2007 and finished third in his second event -- earning enough money to secure his playing privileges on the European Tour.

McIlroy, who could hit a 40-yard drive at the age of 2, really started to make his presence known, though, as the 2008 and '09 seasons intersected across the pond. He had four top 10s in his final six events last year and added three more in the six leading up to the victory in Dubai.

Two of those were playoff losses. Truth be told, though, McIlroy probably learned more from that victory as he squandered a six-stroke lead with six holes to go and had to make a 4-footer on the 72nd hole to beat Justin Rose by one.

"He's got a lot of confidence going now, and obviously the win in Dubai was big for him," Els said. "Got that little monkey off his back, because he's been in contention quite a few times in the last six months."

So McIlroy, now ranked 17th in the world, is back in the hunt again. He plans to play in next week's Honda Classic as well as the World Golf Championships-CA Championship before heading home to prepare for the Shell Houston Open and the Masters.

"I don't want to say I always expected to get to this point, but I always hoped that I would," said McIlroy, who will decide at the end of the year whether he wants to try to join the PGA TOUR. "But I am surprised how quickly I've done it."

O'Meara has invited McIlroy to join him in a practice round with Tiger Woods at Augusta National. In 1999, McIlroy, 9-years-old at the time, was in the gallery to watch O'Meara beat Woods at the World Match Play at Wentworth.

A year later, O'Meara wasn't as successful in the finals against Montgomerie, where once again McIlroy was watching. The American happened to give McIlroy the ball he used to hole a bunker shot at the 18th in the morning session.

"He signed it, and I've still got it. That was pretty good to tell him that," McIlroy said.

A generation from now, some up-and-coming young pro may get to tell McIlroy the same thing. Right now, though, he's just growing up himself.