Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell at The Gleneagles Hotel in 2014. Photo: Getty
When Rory McIlroy won the Masters last month, the flag hoisted at the Augusta National Golf Club wasn’t the official flag of Northern Ireland, because no such flag exists. Instead, the golfing authorities ran the Ulster Banner up the flagpole.
It wasn’t an error — this is the flag that many people in Northern Ireland recognise as theirs and it’s one McIlroy, who is proud of his north Down roots, has personally held.