McIlroy back with a bang as fans’ favourite draws crowds

THOUSANDS of Irish golf fans spoke with their feet at Baltray yesterday by passing over on several long established stars of the European Tour to watch and support 20-year-old Rory McIlroy.

He has captured the imagination of golfers everywhere and even though it was bitingly cold and drizzling at 8am yesterday, there were up to 500 present when he struck his first shot off the 10th tee in the 3 Irish Open. That number quickly swelled to upward of 3,000 even though the youngster was off to a slow start and indeed was two over after three having taken bogey at the 11th and 12th.

It remained a bit of a struggle for a time but the gallery kept faith with their young hero and cheered loudly when he got up and down from a bunker at 17 to avoid dropping another shot. By this stage he had shaken off his early uncertainty and though his five wood approach to the par five 18th trickled into a green side trap, he came out to four feet for his first birdie of the day.