Rory McIlroy life and biography

Rory McIlroy is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland. He has represented Ireland as both an amateur and a professional. He had a successful amateur career, topping the World Amateur Golf Ranking for one week as a 17-year-old in 2007. Later that year he turned professional and soon established himself on the European Tour. He had his first win on the European Tour in 2009, and on the PGA Tour in 2010. He has featured in the top ten of the Official World Golf Rankings and represented Europe in the Ryder Cup.

As a youth in Northern Ireland, McIlroy worked on his game with Holywood Golf Club pro Michael Bannon. And things happened quickly for McIlroy in his teens. He played for Europe in the 2004 Junior Ryder Cup. In 2005, he became the youngest-ever winner of the West of Ireland Championship and of the Irish Close Championships. And in 2006 he repeated as champion in both.

McIlroy played in his first pro tournament at the 2005 British Masters, as a 16-year-old. In 2006, he won the European Amateur Championship. But 2007 is when McIlroy started to come to the attention of the worldwide golf audience.

That year, he reached No. 1 in the world amateur rankings and played on the GB&I team in the Walker Cup. It was what he was doing in pro tournaments, however, that turned heads. McIlroy made his first cut in a pro tournament at the 2007 Dubai Desert Classic, at age 17. A couple months later, after turning 18, he was among the first-round leaders at the British Open. He made the cut and was low amateur.

McIlroy turned pro on Sept. 18, 2007, and his first event as a pro was the British Masters. In his second tournament, the Dunhill Links Championship, McIlroy finished third, ensuring himself a place on the European Tour for the following season.

In 2009, McIlroy, age 20, earned his first win on the European Tour at the Dubai Desert Classic. And at the 2010 Quail Hollow Championship, McIlroy closed with a 62 for his first USPGA victory. He was a few days shy of his 21st birthday, and he joined Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Seve Ballesteros as the only golfers since 1970 to win on the USPGA before turning 21.

On 7 April, McIlroy shot a bogey-free 7-under-par 65 in the first round of the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia to take the lead after the first day of the four-day competition. It was just his seventh round in competition ever on the course. He is the youngest player to ever lead the Masters at the close of the first day. On Friday, he shot 69 to lead by two strokes over Jason Day with a 10-under-par score. On Saturday, he shot 70 to finish at 12-under-par, four strokes ahead of four other challengers. However, on the fourth and final day, McIlroy not only failed to rise to the level of his previous three rounds, he actually shot the joint worst round by a third-round Masters leader (equalling the mark set by Ken Venturi in 1956) in the history of the course at Augusta. McIlroy's troubles began with a a triple-bogey on hole 10, and in the end, McIlroy shot a round of 80. As bad a round as this was, it still placed him just outside the top ten in a closely competitive field, because of his superior play the first three rounds.

Though he did not win the 2011 Masters Tournament, McIlroy did make it into the record book at Augusta. McIlroy led from the start of the tournament until midway through the final round, but ended up setting the all-time record for the worst fourth round by a professional golfer in Masters' history, falling out of the top ten at the tournament. One journalist has stated that the 2011 tournament at Augusta will be remembered more for the collapse of McIlroy on the final nine holes of the final round than it will be for who won the tournament.

Rory McIlroy's first win on the USPGA Tour happened at the 2010 Quail Hollow Championship, when Rory was a few days shy of his 21st birthday.

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