Aaron O’Callaghan reflects on competing with a young Rory McIlroy
OLD FRIENDS: Aaron O'Callaghan and Rory McIlroy.
Tiger Woods had just become the third golfer in history to go back-to-back in the Masters, when over 6,000 kilometres away a young golfer from Holywood in County Down was about to begin his journey to the top.
Harry Diamond won the Ulster Boys’ title that year, before Rory McIlroy went back-to-back. And then in 2004, the future World No 1 also claimed the Irish Boys’ Amateur Close Championship.
It could have been different that week, at least, where McIlroy was forced to a play-off by Aaron O’Callaghan. Fast forward 24 years and McIlroy was looking to emulate Woods, while O’Callaghan watched on with his East Tennessee State University golfers.
Ironically, McIlroy’s playing partner for the final round in Augusta was Cameron Young, a former student of O’Callaghan’s, when he was in Wake Forest.
“We were coming back from a tournament in North Carolina, we were coming up over the mountain back to East Tennessee State when it was going on, so we were all watching it in our team van,” said O’Callaghan. O’Callaghan also had Michael Brennan in Augusta, the Masters debutant who finished in T24.
It was another busy Major week for the Cork man who now spends his time as the men’s golf head coach at East Tennessee State, where Gavin Tiernan and Ben Oberholzer are his Irish contingent this year.
O’Callaghan has also coached John Murphy and Mark Power in recent years and he believes the future is bright for Irish golf in the wake of a 12th Major success since 2007. Three years previous he had played a teenager in the Boys’ Close final in Castlebar.
“We played all four rounds together. I was well back going into the last day,” said O’Callaghan. “We went into a play-off, and I do remember it being a bit of a strange situation. We were thinking that it was sudden death. I birdied the first and he might have parred it and we were going to shake hands and they’re like, oh no, it’s a three-hole play-off.
“I tripled or doubled the next hole and then birdied the last and I think he went par, par, par. Obviously competing against Rory, that particular tournament, I guess it was a little glimpse of what he did in Augusta, he’s just rock steady. I remember him being steely and he was playing against the golf course, I might have been playing a bit against the man, and he came out on top there.
“It is his belief, his determination, Rory’s had a lot of setbacks in his career, but he just seems to use them as an opportunity to get better. All the cuts and all the times he gets knocked down is him just getting stronger and more motivated for the next one. He owns them.”
O’Callaghan’s older brother, Wayne, has been a well-known teaching professional for over 30 years and helped him get into the game through pitch and putt.
He took to it quickly and went on to represent Ireland in the early 2000s where he had his first interaction with an 11-year-old McIlroy in an Irish Boys’ panel session at St Margaret’s.
“I met Rory and we started chatting and what struck me right away was just how young he was, what was this guy doing here? Everyone else was 14, 15 so we were bigger, but he was at the same level, if not better, which at that age was incredible,” said O’Callaghan.
“He’s hitting the ball half the distance and then you find out that he’s world U10 champion, and he’s played all over the world. You see him hold the club and swing and hit it right in the centre every time. I wasn’t even playing golf at his age, it was definitely different.”
O’Callaghan and McIlroy represented Ireland together and were opponents in various events at that level, with the Douglas man getting the win on one particular occasion before he was subsequently beaten by Diamond - now McIlroy's caddie - in the Ulster Boys’.
McIlroy would later sign a letter of intent to play at East Tennessee before he won the European Amateur Championship and instead took the direct route to the professional ranks and an historic career.
Meanwhile, O’Callaghan had a stellar amateur career in Ireland before he travelled Stateside to join up with Southeastern Louisiana University.
He did his PGA certifications and worked in University of Louisville until he spent six seasons as associate head coach at Wake Forest. He joined East Tennessee in June 2024 where he lives with wife, Kristin, and two dogs, Brigid and Francis.
“I absolutely love it here, Tennessee is a great place, the people are very friendly and it reminds me of back home,” said O’Callaghan. “From my standpoint, the athletic department love golf. They take it very seriously. It’s kind of our primary sport over here so there’s huge support for it and I get to help young people, young Irish guys, Europeans.
“We’ve a full team of European guys at the moment. I get to help them along their journey, which is very rewarding and something I love to do.”
And on the week that McIlroy completed a remarkable back-to-back triumph at Augusta, the next batch of Irish hopefuls will tee it up in Malone for the Flogas Irish Boys’ Amateur Open Championship this Friday.
Last year John Doyle was victorious in Cork before he went on to represent Europe at the Junior Ryder Cup and made an appearance at the Amgen Irish Open.
It was McIlroy who beat O’Callaghan in a three-hole play-off for this crown back in 2002, it was a Close championship back then and has since become an Open again.
But the opportunities remain for the next superstar to burst through and make a name for himself, and while it will be difficult to emulate the likes of McIlroy, O’Callaghan knows the right systems are in place.
“Irish golf is always going to cycle because we have a small country and golf is just getting more and more competitive at the higher levels. That’s natural when there’s more money getting injected into it, things just become more competitive,” said O’Callaghan.
“We have some fabulous players currently and we’ve overachieved as a country, that’s very evident. We have wonderful coaching systems. We’re lucky to have Neil Manchip at the reins there. He’s done an incredible job along with all the regional coaches for Golf Ireland.
“When I go around and recruit players and watch what they do, I think that we’re very advanced at that sort of thing. Not to say that there’s not room to grow but we’ve done an incredible job of that, and you see it transition out into professional golf then.
“Guys like Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke, all these guys have worked through the system, they’re a huge inspiration. “Young people that were watching, watching Rory knocking on the door for the Masters, they get inspired. “I certainly was growing up, and that will have a big knock-on effect for the next generation.”
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