{"id":977792,"date":"2026-05-22T12:55:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/977792\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T12:55:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:55:21","slug":"rory-mcilroy-spent-his-first-big-money-paycheque-on-the-ugliest-watch-ever-bought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/977792\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy spent his first big-money paycheque on the ‘ugliest watch ever bought’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rory McIlroy seemingly got a little too excited after earning the first big payday of his now-legendary career.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The six-time major winner ranks second in the all-time winnings list on the PGA Tour<\/a> with a staggering $115,575,791 (\u00a386.2m).<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

McIlroy is one of the biggest earners in golf, but has not always spent his money wiselyCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Only the equally iconic Tiger Woods<\/a> has bettered McIlroy<\/a> with a total of $120,999,166 (\u00a390.3m).<\/p>\n

McIlroy turned professional in 2007 at the age of 18 and won around \u20ac277,255 (\u00a3239,654) in earnings on his European Tour debut year.<\/p>\n

When speaking at the 2025 BMW Championship, he was asked about what he spent his first ever tour paycheque on.<\/p>\n

“Yes, a watch, with diamonds around it. It was horrific!” he admitted<\/a>. “I can’t believe, it was like, the worst purchase ever! It was so bad.<\/p>\n

READ MORE ON GOLF<\/p>\n

McIlroy also remembered the brand, but said: “It’s not the make and model that I’m sponsored by now (Omega) so I’m not going to say it!”<\/p>\n

He is front and centre of a biography written by Alan Shipnuck, ‘Rory: The Heartache and Triumph of Golf’s Most Human Superstar’.<\/p>\n

Shipnuck joined talkSPORT on the William Hill Sports Book Club<\/a>, and recalled when the Northern Irishman once told him to ‘f*** off’<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the author also gave more clarity on just how bad the watch was, with McIlroy most certainly regretting his purchase.<\/p>\n

He said: “He goes, and he buys the biggest, gaudiest, ugliest watch anyone’s ever bought. It’s quite funny because years later, he says, ‘Oh, that was terrible, I can’t believe I bought that watch’.<\/p>\n

“It just all comes full circle because, as you said, we would all love to go to an ATM and see we have \u00a3400,000 all of a sudden. What would we do? Probably something stupid, which is exactly what Rory did.<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

McIlroy saw the funny side of his early payday watch, which was said to be ‘ugly’Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

“But, to his credit, he tells the story and he laughs about it. Rory doesn’t take himself too seriously, that’s another quality that you can enjoy. <\/p>\n

“He will laugh at himself and, for celebrities in general, I think that’s rare. They’re in this ecosystem where everyone’s always kissing up to them and they’re always telling them they’re perfect.<\/p>\n

“But Rory can see through that. He’s like, ‘Yeah, that was ridiculous! Why did I buy a $25,000 diamond encrusted watch?’ So yeah, it’s a very cute story, but also reveals something deeper.”<\/p>\n

Marvelling in McIlroy’s watch<\/strong><\/p>\n

The modern McIlroy appears to have found his taste in watches, so much so that Brooks Koepka was keen to admire his timepiece.<\/p>\n

McIlroy is understood to wear an Omega Tourbillon, which is said to be worth upwards of an astonishing $250k.<\/p>\n

It was a gift he gave himself after his second FedEx Cup in 2019.<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

McIlroy has been sponsored by Omega since 2013Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

“There hasn’t been that many made,” he explained. “Omega are a sponsor of mine, so I sort of had my eye on this watch for a while.<\/p>\n

“I wanted to treat myself after a win and yeah, pretty cool.”<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

McIlroy added: “I probably wear it too often! I probably should have it be more special than it is, but I like it so much.”<\/p>\n

Koepka, who was paired with McIlroy at the PGA Championship last weekend, was in awe of the intricate watch<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy seemingly got a little too excited after earning the first big payday of his now-legendary career.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":977793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4106],"tags":[81189,2826,4287,264318,79,52083,272224,16,15,3315,264319],"class_list":["post-977792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-alan-shipnuck","tag-golf","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-rory-the-heartache-and-triumph-of-golfs-most-human-superstar","tag-sports","tag-talksport","tag-ugly","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-watch","tag-william-hill-sports-book-club"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116618339991654645","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977792","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=977792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/977793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=977792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=977792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=977792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}