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The Journal
22-07-2025
- Sport
- The Journal
Rory McIlroy's Portrush gesture completes one man's 19-year journey to replace what was lost
The 42 IT'S MONDAY AFTERNOON in the media centre at Royal Portrush, and for once the question to Rory McIlroy is a little more interesting than the answer. Q: Rory, in 2006 at the Dubai Desert Classic you were a 16-year-old amateur playing with Peter O'Malley and Robert Coles. I was also a 16 year old, and I was also your scorer that day. A: No way! Q: You told me that day that your two goals were to be the World No. 1 golfer and to complete the Grand Slam. When you're an elite golfer as you are, one of the best of the generation and achieve your lifelong dream like that, what is the process of resetting your goals look like? The man asking that question was David Bieleski. He was at the Open for the week as an accredited member of the media, working for the New Zealand-based radio station, Sport Nation. David was born in New Zealand but went to school in Dubai, and it was from this school that volunteers were drawn for the annual Dubai Desert Classic event on the European Tour. As one of the few in his school who actually played golf, the tournament's head scorer usually rewarded him with the marquee group of the event. Rory McIlroy, pictured in 2006. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO When he was handed his group in 2006, however, David recognised only two of the three listed names. While he knew tour regulars O'Malley and Coles, he knew nothing of the young amateur. He sought out the head scorer and asked him what was the deal, and was told that he was given the best group on the course, because that young amateur would be the best player in the world some day. As idle conversation unspooled with the round, David asked the young amateur for his ambitions in golf, to which the young amateur replied, slightly abashed, that he wanted to win all four major championships and become world number one. After he completed his round, the young amateur signed his golf ball and handed it to his scorer, a custom he maintains to this day. David pocketed the ball with the sense that this was one worth keeping, and so he and Rory McIlroy went their separate ways. Eight years later, Rory McIlroy was 24 and halfway to fulfilling the ambitions he confessed to his scorer at the Dubai Desert Classic. He had been world number one and had won two major titles, and he'd add another two – one of them a Claret Jug – before that year was out. School days: David Bielski with Lee Westwood during his time as a volunteer at the Dubai Desert Classic. David Bielski David Bielski David Bieleski was 24 too, but dealing with a much nastier lie. He was an alcoholic, and he was homeless too. He returned to Auckland after school, where he lapsed gradually, and then suddenly, into drinking. His alcoholism, he says, did not fit the wrongheaded cliché of a man in a trench coat drinking on a park bench from a paper bag: his was hiding insidiously in plain sight. He didn't drink in the mornings and he didn't drink in public parks. He drank socially, but when he drank, he did so to get drunk. It ticked upwards: he went out three, then four, then five nights a week, tactically going out with different friends or groups of people who would not so easily spot the frequency. He shunned the problems this all threw up, simply drinking more to escape and numb the feeling. The nights of excess gave way to mornings of shame, from which the only escape route was another night of excess. David would wake up, vomit over the toilet, potentially vomit again in the shower, and then muddle through the day before going out again that night to start the cycle all over again. 'It was a constant battle of chasing the feeling and ideal state of being through the use of alcohol,' he says, 'and then being wracked with guilt and shame for having let people down, and then doing it all again as a result.' He struggled to hold down a job, constantly ran short of money, and saw friendships and relationships fray at their seams. Then, in 2014, another night's drinking ended up with David getting into a fight, causing damage to property, and being sent to hospital and a jail cell. This was not the first time his night ended this way, but for the first time, he broke the cycle in the morning. After he was released, David stood in front of the bathroom mirror to wash his face and, for the very first time, he could not look himself in the eye. 'It was a rare moment of clarity,' he says, 'where I realised that I could either keep what I was doing and experiencing similar results, or I could be brave and try something different.' This was one week before the birth of his daughter, and so he resolved that she would never see her father drunk. David went to rehab but ran out of money, and so spent eight months living in a homeless shelter as he bid to get sober. And he did it. Within nine months he got a job as a travel agent, and was soon on a flight from New Zealand to Las Vegas for an awards ceremony as one of the company's top performers. He met a girl, Sophie, and they stayed together when she was posted from Wellington to Christchurch for work. With the added free time, David indulged his old passion for golf. He started blogging, his first post being a 2,000-word preview of, you guessed it, the Dubai Desert Classic. It gained traction, and he continued to blog until he was paid to write about golf, from where he moved into broadcasting with Sport Nation. And so David Bieleski has been sober for more than 11 years. 'The peculiarity with alcoholism is that many people can handle alcohol perfectly well and have the ability to say no or they've had enough,' he says. 'You'd never turn around to a diabetic and wonder if they can have a little bit more sugar. Society struggles to understand that we can't approach alcohol the same way. Advertisement 'If I'm drinking, I'm drinking for the effect and to get drunk. Otherwise, what else is the point? If one drink is good, then six, eight, 12 will be even better. It is a disease, and research estimates around 10% of the population have the genetic predisposition towards alcoholic drinking. I personally believe I always had a predisposition for addiction.' Which brings us to Royal Portrush. At one point along his hard road, David lost the golf ball gifted to him by Rory McIlroy, and once he got sober, his mind became fixated on where it had got to. 'It's something I thought about an unreasonable amount,' he says, 'What has happened to this golf ball? 'That memento reminded me of the happiest times of my life: my childhood.' The lost ball was an emblem of all that which David squandered in his drinking days, and so recovering it might provide a measure of apology to his younger self, and of redemption for the life he hadn't led. He scoured his history to find it. He went back to the places he had lived and stayed during his drinking days, pleading with whomever he found to look for the ball. He returned to the house in which he most suspected he had last seen it, and found his former housemate had died. He was an alcoholic too. It was all to no avail. Nobody knew where it was, and nobody could find it. The ball was lost and that fact seemed to prove that while we can all move on, we cannot always make amends. Earlier this year, Rory McIlroy fulfilled the last promise he made to David Bieleski by winning the final major tournament missing from his collection. McIlroy completed his journey's arc so David figured he might too. He flew to Cornwall, where he proposed to Sophie. Meanwhile, he asked two of his golfing school friends from the Dubai days to travel to Portrush: he told them he was proposing to Sophie beforehand, and he wanted a stag party. And, hey, some live golf is as good an idea as any other for an alcoholic's stag. But while his friends were among the galleries, David had access to the media centre, where his path finally again intertwined with Rory McIlroy. On Sunday evening, McIlroy gave the raucous crowds wreathing the 18th green one final wave and disappeared beneath the grandstands, on his way to the scoring tent and then an interview room with journalists. As McIlroy spoke with us, David peeled away from the pack and spotted Rory's caddie, Harry Diamond, standing outside. He sidled over and plucked up the courage to tell him his story. When McIlroy finished up his media duties, he bounced down the four steps leading to the elevated interview platform and swung right to rejoin Harry and walk back to the clubhouse on their way out of Portrush. As he did so, the PA address system heralding Scottie Scheffler's victory drifted overhead. Harry stood with David and introduced him to Rory. David explained his journey, telling Rory of how he had inspired him to complete his own journey. Harry produced a golf ball and sharpie, and handed both to Rory. Rory signed the golf ball, squeezed David's arm, and then handed it over saying, 'Well then, this one is even better.' David walked away, his knuckles clutched so tight they were as white as the golf ball within them, all the while failing to fight back great, heaving tears. He found a quiet spot and slipped the ball into a Titleist box, to officially begin its transit back to New Zealand, where it will take up residence in his home with Sophie, his daughter and his two cats, whose names are Gary and, of course, Rory. The ball will be set upon a tee, framed and put upon his mantlepiece, where it will stand alongside a picture of McIlroy on his knees on the 18th green at Augusta National that bears the man's own message. Never give up on your dreams. David Bieleski completes his journey with a signed ball from Rory McIlroy. David stayed to listen to Scottie Scheffler's press conference, and quietly agreed with Scheffler's outlook that life is ultimately about identifying the truly important things. I went to listen to Scheffler too, and met David as we were filing our way out of the room. I had seen his interaction with McIlroy and my curiosity had gotten the better of me, and so we sat down to talk. About an hour later, I packed up my bags and as I climbed the hill that led down from the media centre to the back of the 18th green, beneath the honeyed sunset in front of me I saw David Bieleski, arm-in-arm with his two friends, telling them he had a golf ball signed by Rory McIlroy and that, today, he had righted a wrong. You can follow David's work at DeepDiveGolf If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this piece, you can visit Written by Gavin Cooney and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won't find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women's sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here .
The 42
22-07-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Rory McIlroy's Portrush gesture completes one man's 19-year journey to replace what was lost
IT'S MONDAY AFTERNOON in the media centre at Royal Portrush, and for once the question to Rory McIlroy is a little more interesting than the answer. Q: Rory, in 2006 at the Dubai Desert Classic you were a 16-year-old amateur playing with Peter O'Malley and Robert Coles. I was also a 16 year old, and I was also your scorer that day. A: No way! Q: You told me that day that your two goals were to be the World No. 1 golfer and to complete the Grand Slam. When you're an elite golfer as you are, one of the best of the generation and achieve your lifelong dream like that, what is the process of resetting your goals look like? The man asking that question was David Bieleski. He was at the Open for the week as an accredited member of the media, working for the New Zealand-based radio station, Sport Nation. David was born in New Zealand but went to school in Dubai, and it was from this school that volunteers were drawn for the annual Dubai Desert Classic event on the European Tour. As one of the few in his school who actually played golf, the tournament's head scorer usually rewarded him with the marquee group of the event. Rory McIlroy, pictured in 2006. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO When he was handed his group in 2006, however, David recognised only two of the three listed names. While he knew tour regulars O'Malley and Coles, he knew nothing of the young amateur. He sought out the head scorer and asked him what was the deal, and was told that he was given the best group on the course, because that young amateur would be the best player in the world some day. As idle conversation unspooled with the round, David asked the young amateur for his ambitions in golf, to which the young amateur replied, slightly abashed, that he wanted to win all four major championships and become world number one. After he completed his round, the young amateur signed his golf ball and handed it to his scorer, a custom he maintains to this day. David pocketed the ball with the sense that this was one worth keeping, and so he and Rory McIlroy went their separate ways. Eight years later, Rory McIlroy was 24 and halfway to fulfilling the ambitions he confessed to his scorer at the Dubai Desert Classic. He had been world number one and had won two major titles, and he'd add another two – one of them a Claret Jug – before that year was out. School days: David Bielski with Lee Westwood during his time as a volunteer at the Dubai Desert Classic. David Bielski David Bielski David Bieleski was 24 too, but dealing with a much nastier lie. He was an alcoholic, and he was homeless too. He returned to Auckland after school, where he lapsed gradually, and then suddenly, into drinking. His alcoholism, he says, did not fit the wrongheaded cliché of a man in a trench coat drinking on a park bench from a paper bag: his was hiding insidiously in plain sight. He didn't drink in the mornings and he didn't drink in public parks. He drank socially, but when he drank, he did so to get drunk. It ticked upwards: he went out three, then four, then five nights a week, tactically going out with different friends or groups of people who would not so easily spot the frequency. He shunned the problems this all threw up, simply drinking more to escape and numb the feeling. The nights of excess gave way to mornings of shame, from which the only escape route was another night of excess. David would wake up, vomit over the toilet, potentially vomit again in the shower, and then muddle through the day before going out again that night to start the cycle all over again. 'It was a constant battle of chasing the feeling and ideal state of being through the use of alcohol,' he says, 'and then being wracked with guilt and shame for having let people down, and then doing it all again as a result.' He struggled to hold down a job, constantly ran short of money, and saw friendships and relationships fray at their seams. Then, in 2014, another night's drinking ended up with David getting into a fight, causing damage to property, and being sent to hospital and a jail cell. This was not the first time his night ended this way, but for the first time, he broke the cycle in the morning. After he was released, David stood in front of the bathroom mirror to wash his face and, for the very first time, he could not look himself in the eye. 'It was a rare moment of clarity,' he says, 'where I realised that I could either keep what I was doing and experiencing similar results, or I could be brave and try something different.' This was one week before the birth of his daughter, and so he resolved that she would never see her father drunk. David went to rehab but ran out of money, and so spent eight months living in a homeless shelter as he bid to get sober. And he did it. Within nine months he got a job as a travel agent, and was soon on a flight from New Zealand to Las Vegas for an awards ceremony as one of the company's top performers. He met a girl, Sophie, and they stayed together when she was posted from Wellington to Christchurch for work. With the added free time, David indulged his old passion for golf. He started blogging, his first post being a 2,000-word preview of, you guessed it, the Dubai Desert Classic. It gained traction, and he continued to blog until he was paid to write about golf, from where he moved into broadcasting with Sport Nation. And so David Bieleski has been sober for more than 11 years. 'The peculiarity with alcoholism is that many people can handle alcohol perfectly well and have the ability to say no or they've had enough,' he says. 'You'd never turn around to a diabetic and wonder if they can have a little bit more sugar. Society struggles to understand that we can't approach alcohol the same way. Advertisement 'If I'm drinking, I'm drinking for the effect and to get drunk. Otherwise, what else is the point? If one drink is good, then six, eight, 12 will be even better. It is a disease, and research estimates around 10% of the population have the genetic predisposition towards alcoholic drinking. I personally believe I always had a predisposition for addiction.' Which brings us to Royal Portrush. At one point along his hard road, David lost the golf ball gifted to him by Rory McIlroy, and once he got sober, his mind became fixated on where it had got to. 'It's something I thought about an unreasonable amount,' he says, 'What has happened to this golf ball? 'That memento reminded me of the happiest times of my life: my childhood.' The lost ball was an emblem of all that which David squandered in his drinking days, and so recovering it might provide a measure of apology to his younger self, and of redemption for the life he hadn't led. He scoured his history to find it. He went back to the places he had lived and stayed during his drinking days, pleading with whomever he found to look for the ball. He returned to the house in which he most suspected he had last seen it, and found his former housemate had died. He was an alcoholic too. It was all to no avail. Nobody knew where it was, and nobody could find it. The ball was lost and that fact seemed to prove that while we can all move on, we cannot always make amends. Earlier this year, Rory McIlroy fulfilled the last promise he made to David Bieleski by winning the final major tournament missing from his collection. McIlroy completed his journey's arc so David figured he might too. He flew to Cornwall, where he proposed to Sophie. Meanwhile, he asked two of his golfing school friends from the Dubai days to travel to Portrush: he told them he was proposing to Sophie beforehand, and he wanted a stag party. And, hey, some live golf is as good an idea as any other for an alcoholic's stag. But while his friends were among the galleries, David had access to the media centre, where his path finally again intertwined with Rory McIlroy. On Sunday evening, McIlroy gave the raucous crowds wreathing the 18th green one final wave and disappeared beneath the grandstands, on his way to the scoring tent and then an interview room with journalists. As McIlroy spoke with us, David peeled away from the pack and spotted Rory's caddie, Harry Diamond, standing outside. He sidled over and plucked up the courage to tell him his story. When McIlroy finished up his media duties, he bounced down the four steps leading to the elevated interview platform and swung right to rejoin Harry and walk back to the clubhouse on their way out of Portrush. As he did so, the PA address system heralding Scottie Scheffler's victory drifted overhead. Harry stood with David and introduced him to Rory. David explained his journey, telling Rory of how he had inspired him to complete his own journey. Harry produced a golf ball and sharpie, and handed both to Rory. Rory signed the golf ball, squeezed David's arm, and then handed it over saying, 'Well then, this one is even better.' David walked away, his knuckles clutched so tight they were as white as the golf ball within them, all the while failing to fight back great, heaving tears. He found a quiet spot and slipped the ball into a Titleist box, to officially begin its transit back to New Zealand, where it will take up residence in his home with Sophie, his daughter and his two cats, whose names are Gary and, of course, Rory. The ball will be set upon a tee, framed and put upon his mantlepiece, where it will stand alongside a picture of McIlroy on his knees on the 18th green at Augusta National that bears the man's own message. Never give up on your dreams. David Bieleski completes his journey with a signed ball from Rory McIlroy. David stayed to listen to Scottie Scheffler's press conference, and quietly agreed with Scheffler's outlook that life is ultimately about identifying the truly important things. I went to listen to Scheffler too, and met David as we were filing our way out of the room. I had seen his interaction with McIlroy and my curiosity had gotten the better of me, and so we sat down to talk. About an hour later, I packed up my bags and as I climbed the hill that led down from the media centre to the back of the 18th green, beneath the honeyed sunset in front of me I saw David Bieleski, arm-in-arm with his two friends, telling them he had a golf ball signed by Rory McIlroy and that, today, he had righted a wrong. You can follow David's work at DeepDiveGolf If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this piece, you can visit
CairoScene
11-07-2025
- Sport
- CairoScene
How Othman Al Mulla Hit a Drive to Become the First Saudi Pro Golfer
How Othman Al Mulla Hit a Drive to Become the First Saudi Pro Golfer From a hesitant start in Dhahran to representing his country on the international stage, Othman Al Mulla's journey is shaping the future of Saudi golf from the ground up. Before he became Saudi Arabia's first professional golfer, Othman Al Mulla nearly didn't try the sport at all. 'I was quite hesitant in the beginning,' he said. 'But it was probably one of the most transformational days of my life.' The invitation came from a friend in Dhahran, where Al Mulla grew up inside the Aramco residential community; a place better known for its safety and order than for producing professional athletes. Golf, however, was an unlikely exception. The course inside the compound wasn't a world-class facility, but it existed, and that alone made it rare in Saudi Arabia at the time. 'It was quite unique in the Kingdom,' Al Mulla told SceneNowSaudi. 'Although my introduction and beginning years were quite tough, having to travel for high-level competition and coaching, I think I was really privileged.' That combination - a modest entry point and a need to look outward - would shape much of Al Mulla's early career. By 2007, he found himself teeing off next to Tiger Woods and Ernie Els at the Dubai Desert Classic. 'I was ecstatic and super blessed,' he said. 'But I was also too young to fully understand the significance of what that moment meant, not just for me, but for what I could represent.' In hindsight, it was the beginning of something larger. He hadn't yet gone pro, but Saudi Arabia had already been seen, if only briefly, on golf's international map. Then came the pause in the sand pit. Without a system to guide him through the demands of a career in golf, Al Mulla stepped away from the sport altogether. He went back to school and worked in finance. 'I never had a roadmap,' he said. 'And I made a lot of mistakes, some of which were very costly. The break taught me I needed to be more organised, and not be shy about reaching out to people who had already done the things I wanted to do.' By the time he started his career in 2019, the title of 'pro golfer' came with something heavier than celebration; it came with a national responsibility. 'It was an incredible honour,' he said. 'And I carry it with me every day.' It didn't take long for the weight of that title to show itself. In his first event as a professional, at the debut of the Saudi International, Al Mulla didn't play particularly well. But he remembers something else: a few families walking the course with their children, quietly following his round. 'Since then, the gravity of the role has been apparent,' he said. 'It's motivated me ever since.' That kind of motivation doesn't always show up on a leaderboard. It exists in the quieter spaces, in the conversations, the visibility, and the fact that young Saudi players now enter the sport with opportunities that didn't exist even a decade ago. 'It's actually super satisfying to see the new landscape,' he said. 'I had to take a lot of risks just to keep the dream alive. So to watch younger players come up through a system, with real backing, is incredible.' Al Mulla doesn't see this new era as separate from his own. The infrastructure may have arrived late, but he believes legacy isn't measured only in results. It's measured in continuity. 'We're only at the beginning,' he said. 'But I also believe that in the group of five Saudi professionals, we will have some great wins that will help establish a legacy for the next generation of golfers to follow.' As for the pressure of carrying that vision forward, Al Mulla does not flinch. 'When you've put yourself in a place to achieve great things and represent your country internationally, that is a privilege,' he said. 'I've learned to appreciate the work and the journey more than the outcome.' What started as a hesitant visit to a neighbourhood golf course now exists as a kind of blueprint, not just for how to begin, but how to build where nothing existed before.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Tyrell Hatton faces fine for US PGA outburst as Vegas leads the pack
Tyrrell Hatton's love-hate relationship with his professional domain continues. The Englishman will inevitably be fined after a foul-mouthed tirade during his second round of the US PGA Championship was picked up on live television coverage. Hatton was within a shot of the lead when reaching the tee at the 18th, his 9th. Hatton's drive found a water hazard. What happened next was rather typical for a player prone to tempestuous moments on golf courses. The 33-year-old bawled out 'piece of shit' before adding a c-word insult, apparently towards his driver. Hatton's mood hardly improved as he slumped to a triple-bogey seven. Advertisement Related: US PGA Championship 2025: golf updates from second round – live 'It wasn't my finest moment on the course,' said Hatton of his outburst. 'I was running hot in that moment. I'm pretty good sometimes at saying the wrong thing.' The strange thing is Hatton's refusal to moderate his behaviour. Perhaps he thinks he does not need to. Maybe last year's move to LIV Golf has loosened his inhibitions even further. Rebel tour, rebel antics. At the Dubai Desert Classic in January, Hatton plunged a club right through a tee marker. By Sunday, Hatton was holding the trophy. Hatton was widely condemned for ranting, raving and club snapping at another Dubai event last November. He needs to tone it down a couple of notches, if simply on the basis of example-setting. He remains a fantastic player; there is no need for the histrionics. Advertisement Shane Lowry summoned his inner Hatton as he whacked the turf in anger on the 8th. Lowry had found a horrible lie on the fairway. 'Fuck this place,' added the 2019 Open champion for good measure. What an intemperate scene. Mud balls, a theme in this US PGA, have troubled Hatton, albeit to a lesser extent than that drive. 'You do your job off the tee, you hit a good shot then all of a sudden you are missing a green by 10 yards with an eight iron because there is mud on the ball,' Hatton said. 'It is a bit harsh and so inconsistent, it's not like the ball always does the same thing. I don't like the fact it is a bit of a wild guess. 'I was surprised it wasn't pick-up-and-place with how wet it was here on Wednesday. But it is the same for everyone.' Hatton's 73 left him at one under, seven shy of Jhonattan Vegas. The Venezuelan added a 70 to Thursday's 64. To portray this as strange would be huge understatement; Vegas has reached the age of 40 without posting a major top 10. He surely cannot keep up his form around Quail Hollow … can he? Advertisement The first meaningful sign of Vegas nerves arrived at the last, where he slumped to a double bogey, after three birdies on the back nine. Vegas enjoyed an outrageous piece of fortune on the 17th, where his wayward tee shot rebounded from a bunker rake and on to the green. Otherwise, it was 20 yards wide. Matthieu Pavon carded a superb 65 to move to minus six. Matt Fitzpatrick's welcome return to form continued, his 68 enough to equal Pavon's total. The Yorkshireman has rediscovered his touch in a fiendishly tough environment. Scottie Scheffler is in close proximity, naturally. Si Woo Kim blasted into contention with a hole in one at the 6th. Max Homa's 64 means a five-under aggregate at halfway. Bryson DeChambeau lurks with intent. The reigning US Open champion's 68 moved him to three under. DeChambeau's position would be even better but for a messy bogey at the 9th, his final hole. 'It is a great test,' said DeChambeau of this Charlotte venue. 'It was a weird day. I felt like I was playing good, just didn't get anything out of it. I got some weird breaks out there. That's what this golf course does to you. I've just got to have my putting a little more on and keep playing the way I am. I easily could be seven or eight under right now or I could be even par. I think a 65, 64 is out there. I almost shot it today and I definitely saw it out there, I just didn't accomplish it.' Advertisement It would be a surprise if DeChambeau is not part of the round four equation. Quail Hollow typically rewards those with the Californian's driving power. This is a major that has still to burst into song. Dustin Johnson comfortably missed the cut after rounds of 78 and 76. Cameron Smith's strange slide towards golfing oblivion continued with a third major early exit in a row. Justin Rose, who pushed Rory McIlroy so close at the Masters only last month, was a surprise departure at plus nine. Justin Thomas, who won the US PGA here in 2019, and Ludvig Åberg also found themselves on Friday evening planes out of Charlotte.
The National
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
World-conquering Rory McIlroy's rise from Dubai and a connection with Jumeirah Hotels
In the time since Rory McIlroy completed the career grand slam by winning the Masters, paeans have been written, and his place in the sport's pantheon assured. Some golf has even been played, too. Such has been the comedown after Augusta, it was easy to miss the fact that Justin Thomas had returned to the PGA Tour winner's circle on Sunday. McIlroy himself skipped last week's RBC Heritage event, taking his private jet to see his parents in Northern Ireland instead. If he stopped to have a look round Holywood while he was there, he might have noticed everyone was reveling in his achievement. Images of his smiling face adorned shop windows, and, for £1.20 a pop, he could have bought biscuits from the bakery with his face on the icing. McIlroy's epic Masters win felt like a communal experience. Everyone felt like they had a part share in the emotions of a player who has sat on the edge of greatness for the past 11 years. Clearly, his hometown in Northern Ireland has first dibs on him. But in Dubai, it feels like we have watched him grow in front of us, too. McIlroy first played the Dubai Desert Classic as a 16-year-old amateur on a sponsor's invite in 2006. That was the first tournament he won as a professional three years later, by which point he was wearing the branding of his Dubai-based sponsors, Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts. Of the 44 professional titles he has won, seven have come in Dubai – a record four Desert Classics, and three DP World Tour Championships. He has also lifted the Race to Dubai trophy six times at Jumeirah Golf Estates. No wonder he replied, back in November, to a question about whether he would accept UAE citizenship, stating: 'I have never been offered it but if I were to be offered, I probably would take it. 'I lived here for four years,' McIlroy said back then. 'I was a resident. I love this part of the world. I always have.' It is fair to say his one-time home has a deep affinity for him, too. 'I think there is a very, very strong connection between Rory McIlroy and Dubai,' said Chris May, the chief executive of Dubai Golf. 'We are really lucky in this part of the world to see a lot of him, but we really shouldn't take him for granted. 'He has now proven himself to be one of the greats. He enjoys his time here, and hopefully that will continue for many years to come.' May points out McIlroy's association with the city predates him coming to play in the Classic aged 16. 'He had arrived at the academy building with three friends,' May recalls of a time when he was working as the general manager at the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club. 'All they wanted to do was go and play the par-3, and they were waiting for it to open. They went round and round and round and round again, just practising their short game and having fun. 'He was always a really nice, polite kid as an amateur, and he is a great ambassador for the game of golf. "I think Dubai can be very proud he has achieved something that was historic by becoming the sixth person to win all four majors.' May must be the envy of the majority of golf fans in that he was there to witness McIlroy's Masters' success in the flesh. He was part of a group of golf administrators from Dubai who travelled to Augusta as part of the planning for the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship. That tournament, which will be played at Emirates Golf Club in October, carried with it a place at the 2026 Masters and Open Championship for the winner. The delegation from Dubai were able to mix business with what must be the ultimate pleasure for golf aficionados by watching McIlroy make history. May, for example, was 20 yards away from where he hit his approach for the ages on the 15th hole in the final round. 'You just never knew who was going to win,' May said. 'It must have been amazing to watch it all unfold on TV, but there are no screens at Augusta. "But the atmosphere of the crowds was something I don't think I'll ever experience again.' Completing the career slam has meant plenty of scope for reflection on McIlroy's achievements to date. Revisiting his first two major wins – the 2011 US Open and 2012 PGA Championship – what was striking when viewed from Dubai was the logo on his shirt and cap. Jumeirah had never sponsored a golfer before. Alaister Murray, the company's chief financial officer and a single-handicap golfer, had long been aware of a young whizzkid from near where he was from, back in Northern Ireland. When Murray arrived at the company in 2002, McIlroy was already a scratch golfer, despite being barely a teenager. He recommended him to Jumeirah, and they became his sponsor on the day he turned professional in 2007. 'It was Alaister who thought it might be a good idea to sponsor this up-and-coming young amateur,' Gerald Lawless, who was Jumeirah's chief executive at the time, said. 'Alaister said Jumeirah should look to sponsor him under the brand, and I said, 'You're the CFO, I'm only the CEO. Go ahead and talk to them, and see what happens'.' By the time they parted in 2013, and McIlroy became a Nike athlete instead, he had become the best player in the world and was halfway to a career grand slam. 'It is very special the relationship we had with him over the five-year period he was sponsored by Jumeirah,' Lawless said. 'As a fellow Irish person, I was always very pleased that Rory was doing so well. He went from amateur to world No 1 in the five years he was associated with Jumeirah. 'That is quite an achievement for him, and quite a joyful thing for the sponsor, as you could imagine. We were naturally very proud of him. 'He was a real gentleman, and we always enjoyed his company when he was with us. I was very nervous watching him play because it means so much to see him winning. 'What he has now achieved is thoroughly deserved, and we have always felt very privileged to have been involved with him and to have known him.' Murray, who is now back living in Northern Ireland, said: 'He is a remarkable young man. 'He is grounded still, a testament to his upbringing, with great parents and a wonderful broader family circle. 'I can't speak highly enough of Rory and his close family. He is now a true legend in the golf and broader sporting world. It was never in doubt.' McIlroy, who returns to playing when he partners Shane Lowry at the Zurich Classic on Thursday, has always inflated the gallery sizes whenever he has played in Dubai. And May thinks they will be amplified further following what happened at the Masters. 'I don't think, since the height of Tiger Woods' career, we have seen anyone close to him but Rory,' May said. 'When Rory plays next in Dubai, the crowds are definitely going to be very large, and will feature as many non-golf fans as golf fans.'
