{"id":368055,"date":"2025-11-10T00:52:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T00:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/368055\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T00:52:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T00:52:24","slug":"watch-rory-mcilroy-get-the-living-daylights-scared-out-of-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/368055\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch Rory McIlroy get the living daylights scared out of him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Masters champion <\/strong>Rory McIlroy<\/strong><\/a> swapped his golf clubs for a helmet ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 36-year-old is currently in the Middle East competing in the first leg of the play-offs at Yas Links.<\/p>\n

He is chasing his seventh order of merit title and, if he is successful, would inch closer to matching Colin Montgomerie’s record.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before the $9m DP World Tour event got underway, the five-time major champion was invited for a spin with pro race driver Francesco Pardini.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They tracked McIlroy’s heartrate using real-time date from fitness tracker WHOOP, of which the Northern Irishman is an investor and an ambassador.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

McIlroy said he was feeling jetlagged upon arrival and only had only slept for six hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reaching speeds of more than 200mph, McIlroy’s heartrate climbed to more than 100bpm.<\/p>\n

His face was an absolute picture after he egged on Pardini to up the ante after their first few laps in the car.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’m exhausted, I don’t know about you,” he said after he got. “I’m buzzing after that, by the way, that was really cool.”<\/p>\n

Watch the video here:McIlroy confirms BBC SPOTY appearance<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy is among the favourites to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in 2025 following his remarkable season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McIlroy began the year with a bang, winning the coveted Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass before finally ending his wait for a major championship victory at The Masters.<\/p>\n

His win at Augusta National meant that he became only the sixth male golfer in history to complete the career grand slam.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rory <\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy<\/p>\n

McIlroy followed his exploits in Georgia with victory in front of his home fans at the Irish Open before helping Europe achieve a remarkable away victory over the United States at Bethpage Black in New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Victory for McIlroy was made even sweeter given he was on the receiving end of horrific verbal abuse from a select few outside the gallery ropes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McIlroy confirmed to BBC Sport this week that he and his wife Erica<\/a> have received an official letter of apology from the PGA of America’s president over what transpired.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also confirmed to Telegraph Sport that he will attend the BBC Sports Personality of The Year awards in person.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rory <\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy and his wife Erica<\/p>\n

“Yeah, the plan is to go,” he told the publication<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

“I have more chance of winning if I’m actually there, and I recognise that with the audience the show attracts it could only be a good thing for the game.”<\/p>\n

Only two golfers have won the award: Dai Rees in 1957 and Sir Nick Faldo in 1989.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McIlroy finished to Lewis Hamilton in 2014 (the year he won two major championships) and he was a nominee in 2023.<\/p>\n

The betting market paints an interesting picture for BBC Sports Personality of the Year.<\/p>\n

McIlroy is currently 7\/4 <\/strong>second favourite, trailing England Women’s forward Chloe Kelly (11\/10<\/strong>), whose penalty heroics inspired the Lionesses to Euro 2025 success.<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Lando Norris (11\/2<\/strong>) then rounds out the top three, thanks to his F1 title push with McLaren.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Masters champion Rory McIlroy swapped his golf clubs for a helmet ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":368056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[1430,1478,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-368055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-rory-mcilroy","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115522669878851079","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}