Rory: The unheralded team behind a sporting superstar

Rory McIlroy’s first major has been a couple of decades in the making — but it has built a solid foundation for future success

GERRY McILROY didn’t know it but his every movement during last Sunday’s final round of the US Open was subject to the closest scrutiny. Not quite the FBI or the CIA but an institution of almost similar renown in the United States, The New York Times, who deemed it worthy to dispatch a reporter to see how Gerry was coping with watching his 22-year-old son, Rory, try to retain his commanding lead at the head of the field in one of golf’s four major championships.

“Teetering on his footsteps behind fans eight feet deep, Gerry McIlroy stood along the 6th fairway and could not see a thing”, reported the Times. “He had no clue which golfers were hitting the shots. No sign of where the balls were landing and no matter how much he craned his neck, he could not see a glimpse of his son, the young genius about to give his dad the greatest gift on Father’s Day, a US Open title won in historic fashion.”