{"id":29540,"date":"2025-04-18T06:32:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T06:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/29540\/"},"modified":"2025-04-18T06:32:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T06:32:12","slug":"rory-mcilroy-gerry-kelly-reflects-on-famous-golfers-tv-debut-as-a-child-in-1999","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/29540\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy: Gerry Kelly reflects on famous golfer’s TV debut as a child in 1999"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI wish I had a pound for every time someone reminded me of that video,\u201d said Gerry<\/a>, who never moved from his TV screen in his Ardglass home on Sunday night as he watched the now-35-year-old McIlroy complete a clean sweep of major titles.<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy on the Gerry Kelly Show<\/p>\n

‘Dream come true’ – Rory McIlroy finally completes grand slam with Masters win<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course you could tell back then he had a special talent,\u201d said Gerry. \u201cBut just how special he would be, well, I don\u2019t think any of us ever dared believe Northern Ireland would produce this sort of sporting superstar.\u201d<\/p>\n

The young McIlroy<\/a>, who was still at primary school, had been invited on Kelly after Gerry learned of his success at the World Junior Tournament, in the under-10 division, in Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see a lot of kids at nine years old who have the talent and show a lot of promise, can do the fancy tricks, win the junior tournaments. Many of them will disappear, but from that night we chatted, I\u2019ve followed his career and he hasn\u2019t disappeared.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe continued to progress while others, who might have shared that early talent, fell away.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually had a night in the Titanic centre a while ago where we recreated that washing machine stunt, getting people in the audience to guess if he\u2019d hit the target from 20 yards like he did in that video. We had to give it up. The ball went in every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gerry said his own nerves were getting the better of him as the five hours of sporting drama unfolded on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was his to lose from the start of the round on Sunday night, but within a couple of holes I thought: \u2018Oh, no, here we go again, he\u2019s lost it.\u2019 I probably wasn\u2019t the only one, after what we\u2019d all watched and been put through before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I thought he had it in his pocket again, then he\u2019d lost it. It went on and on, ups and downs. It was a thrilling watch. And though it might have been easier to enjoy had he sailed to the line, it will now go down as probably the best Masters tournament ever. That made Rory getting over the line all the more special for those who have followed all the triumphs and disasters that have followed him through his career.<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy on the Gerry Kelly Show<\/p>\n

Watch: Holywood Co Down celebrates McIlroy’s Masters and career grand slam victory<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Northern Ireland to have produced the next golfer to complete that career Grand Slam of major titles is absolutely fantastic. It was a pleasure to watch Rory develop in his early career, winning the US Open, the Open and those two PGA titles. But you knew all along, probably since that Masters in 2011 when he looked to have it won, that this was the one he wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably the greatest sporting achievement I can remember from any Northern Ireland sporting star. It even surpasses that night when Dennis Taylor won the world snooker title in 1985 for the sheer drama of the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure that wee video of him chipping balls into washing machines will be getting another few airings this week.<\/p>\n

\u201dI think I did start to relax a little when he managed to get four shots clear, but I suppose I should have known better. But he just keep coming back and coming back with some of the most wonderful golf shots under pressure I think I\u2019ve ever had the pleasure of watching.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just so relieved he managed to do it. Had he fallen short again, I would have hated his career to be remembered for the near-misses, rather than the success he has had. To think he could have gone through that all again, being called a bottler as if his career was some sort of a failure despite everything he\u2019s achieved, would have been so unfair. They\u2019d have been queuing up to take pot shots at him again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can all sit back and relax now, enjoy the talent he has and take delight in the effect his victory has had on Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to think he gone one further than those who completed the golfing Grand Slam before him. He\u2019s won the Masters now, the Open, the US Open and the USPGA. And he\u2019s chipped into a washing machine in his mum\u2019s kitchen as a nine-year-old on the Kelly Show. I don\u2019t think anyone will ever beat that!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI wish I had a pound for every time someone reminded me of that video,\u201d said Gerry, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[2826,17698,4286,4287,79,16,15,17697],"class_list":{"0":"post-29540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-mark-bain","10":"tag-masters","11":"tag-rory-mcilroy","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-utv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114357570392214875","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}