Rory McIlroy couldn’t help but laugh as he recalled spending his first ever PGA Tour paycheque on a designer watch.
The Northern Irishman has had some huge paydays during his 18-year professional career, amassing over $107million (£78.9m) in career earnings on the PGA Tour.
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McIlroy has been ranked as high as world no.1 in his 18 years on the PGA TourCredit: Getty
This includes pocketing a staggering $4.2m (£3.2m) in April, when McIlroy became just the sixth player to complete a career Grand Slam with victory at The Masters.
It’s fair to say the 36-year-old has invested plenty of his wealth shrewdly, from buying a £16.5m mansion in Florida, to creating the indoor simulator league, the TGL, alongside Tiger Woods.
But this wasn’t always the case for McIlroy, who has admitted to having some regrets over one early career purchase.
Having started out on the PGA Tour in 2007, his exploits as an 18-year-old quickly saw him come into money.
On the DP World Tour that year, he made $20,530 for a T-42 finish at the British Masters, before banking $286,769 with a third-place finish at the Alfred Dunhill Cup, and another $56,425 at the Madrid Open.
And in a recent press conference ahead of this week’s BMW Championship, McIlroy discussed his early days of earning a living from golf.
In a press conferencee said: “I only had a debit card at the time and I checked my balance.
“I was like: ‘Holy (cow)’. I went straight to the jeweller.”
McIlroy was then probed on how he spent his maiden PGA Tour paycheck, who laughed as he replied: “Yes, a watch.
“With diamonds around it. It was horrific. I can’t believe, it was like the worst purchase ever. It was so bad!”
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McIlroy laughed as he revealed how he spent his first paychequeCredit: X: @PGATour
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The Northern Irishman enjoyed huge success in his early career, winning the 2011 US OpenCredit: AFP
And while McIlroy could remember his questionable purchase only too clearly, he smiled as he refused to give any more away about it.
The golf star currently has an endorsement deal with Omega watches, and he revealed his first paycheck was not spent on the same brand.
When asked if he remembered the make and model, he replied: “I do.
“It’s not the make and model that I’m sponsored by now, so I’m not going to say it!”
McIlroy’s life has certainly changed beyond just his choice of watches since starting out on the PGA Tour.
The County Down native has picked up a total of 29 PGA Tour titles, the first of which came at the Quial Hollow Championship in 2010.
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The 36-year-old finally got his hands on the prestigious Green Jacket earlier this year
McIlroy will be looking for the 30th of his career this week, as he goes for glory at the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland, which starts on Thursday.
The event sees the FedEx up playoffs continue, after getting underway at the St. Jude Championship last week.
But McIlroy opted to skip the opening playoff event, knowing he’s already guaranteed a spot in the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship next week.
And ahead of the BMW Championship, he explained that a hectic upcoming schedule was the reason behind his recent absence.
McIlroy said: “A lot of the guys aren’t 18 years into their professional career. I feel like I’m in a little bit of a different position.
“I’m playing nine times between now and the end of the year, so I’ve still got a pretty busy stretch coming up and I just think that extra week off will do me good with the events coming up.”
“[There are] some big events that are important to me – the Irish Open, Wentworth, obviously the Ryder Cup.
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Rory McIlroy is looking to win an eighth Ryder Cup with Team Europe in SeptemberCredit: Getty
“I want to try to win my seventh Race to Dubai over in Europe as well. There’s some things that are still important to me that I want to go play in.
“That was a big part of the reason why I wanted to take that extra week off last week.”