Rory McIlroy gets interviewed by School Kids

Rory has come a long way

Rory McIlroy might be fit as a butchers dog, multiple major winning, millionaire golfer, with a gorgeous girlfriend. But it wasn't all that long ago where he was just a normal chubby faced kid from Northern Ireland. Rory was recently interviewed by a class of kids from his old school in Holywood, Belfast. Class 10 C of Sullivan upper school questioned the superstar, and while he didn’t let too much out of the bag he gave an insight to growing up and just how important golf has always been to him. The moral of this story is you can never get the kids playing too early.

Get 'em while they're young

“I've just been playing golf for so long (I was a two-year-old!) that I find it difficult to imagine another profession.” Rory’s response when asked what he might do if he wasn’t a golfer.

The tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth.

On realising he was going to be the best in the world?
“I don't really remember, but from about the age of five I told anyone who would listen that I was going to be the best golfer in the world. They were, mostly, kind enough to humour me with a pat on the head and say: "Of course you are, son". But I started to really believe in myself, and my abilities, when I won the World Under-10 championship in Doral, Florida. I was nine and saw for the first time that I was amongst the best players in the world for my age. This was a massive confidence-builder for me.”

"You won't be smiling at the camera when the Mrs smashes your Porsche in, mark my words..."

On realising golf was more important than school to him…

“I think there came a time - probably when I was about 13 - when I started to struggle with an increasing volume of schoolwork and the demands from my golfing schedule and aspirations. I'm not sure if the decision to leave school was very clear in my mind then but I did know that in the juggling between the two, my energies were most definitely in the golfing direction.”

"I'll be rich enough to buy that castle one day"

If there was a shot he wished he could replay?
“I'm afraid there are no replays or second chances in amateur or professional golf, and that's the way it should be. I've missed cuts in big events by one shot - perhaps a putt that didn't fall - and was upset that I'd come so close. But I was missing the point: we have to take the mistakes on the chin, learn from them and try to ensure we hole that putt the next time.”

We hope this shot inspired him to get a haircut...

“Leaving golf aside for the moment, I'd choose Roger Federer as a sporting role model, Muhammad Ali for a sporting and non-sporting role model and Nelson Mandela as a true and lasting inspiration. I believe that anybody with Mandela's capacity to endure hardship and then forgive is a born leader and example to us all.”

You can see  the rest of the interview here…

Rory and his new putting grip