AUGUSTA, Ga. – Rory McIlroy brought one extra membership to Augusta National this week: his daughter’s putter.
Poppy McIlroy, 5, garnered headlines ultimately 12 months’s Masters Par 3 Contest by sinking a 25-foot putt on the ninth gap. Making the feat much more spectacular, she did so utilizing her dad’s flatstick.
“She is the most unbelievably polite and respectful and well-behaved little girl, and I really love that she started to get into the game a lot more, and it all stemmed from the putt last year at the Par 3,” McIlroy mentioned. “She made sure that I brought her putter up this year so she could hit the putt with her putter and not mine. Yeah, that’s been amazing – and as well, just to see her grow up to have her travel the world to see different places, to give her a life that I could only dream about when I was that age, that’s been the coolest thing.”
And if he didn’t already really feel old, the 36-year-old McIlroy will play the primary two rounds alongside U.S. Amateur champion Mason Howell, who is 18 and not even in school but.
“Mason was born, what, 2005?” McIlroy requested earlier than correcting himself. “No, 2008.” (Howell’s birthday is really June 28, 2007.) He then shook his head.
The 36-year-old Northern Irishman designed this 12 months’s Champions Dinner menu and wine listing, as is the duty of the reigning champion. He’ll additionally communicate to his fellow Masters winners.
“I just think about the time span,” McIlroy added. “That’s why our game is so incredible. I’ve been lucky that the people that I looked up to took me under their wing when I was starting off. … That’s the incredible thing about golf that not a lot of other sports have.”
Like Poppy McIlroy, Howell brought one thing extra particular to the Masters. When Howell was 9 years old and attending the Tour Championship, McIlroy tossed him certainly one of his golf balls. Howell has stored that ball in his room ever since, although this week, he’ll carry it in his golf bag.
He revealed he’s additionally planning a innocent prank for Thursday on the primary tee.
“I’m going to say I’m going to play the first hole with a Nike – which I’m not,” Howell mentioned, laughing. “It says RORS on the side. But that would be a power move. But, yeah, that’s kind of the plan. Hopefully, it doesn’t get back to him before Thursday.”
