With New England the mecca of sports champions, it’s hardly surprising that newly crowned U.S. Open winner Rory McIlroy would make his first post-Congressional stop on Cape Cod.
The youngster from Northern Ireland made Titletown forget for just a moment (okay, that’s stretching things just a tad) about the Boston Bruins’ shiny new Stanley Cup when he arrived at Willowbend Country Club in Mashpee, Mass., with his silver Open chalice. Honoring a previous commitment to his sponsor, watchmaker Audemars Piguet, a sleepless and rumpled McIlroy hopped on a private jet Monday morning and made his way to Paul Fireman’s playground of the rich and famous.
With an untucked shirt and a couple days worth of stubble on his 22-year-old face, McIlroy said his complete conquest of Congressional Country Club the day before had not quite registered.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” McIlroy told the Cape Cod Times. “It’s all a big blur, but I know I played very well and it’s nice to get my major career up and running.”
So exactly when did R-Mac know he had the Open in the bag? Shortly after he almost holed his tee shot on the par-3 10th hole at Congressional, he said.
“I spent the whole week trying to concentrate on each shot and each hole,” he said to the Times. “It wasn’t until I got past the 11th on Sunday, probably the toughest hole on the course, that I was able to look around and start to enjoy it. That was fun, certainly.”
The new champ said he would not pick up a stick competitively until the British Open next month.
“I’m looking forward to taking a break. I want to see my family and friends and enjoy this,” the Cape Cod publication quoted him as saying while he tapped the Open trophy. “I only get to keep it for a year.”
To which his agent Chubby Chandler responded, “Not necessarily, Rory. Let’s win it again next year, too.”
McIlroy reportedly teed it up with Fireman, who made his fortune as Reebok’s chief executive and who owns the exclusive Cape course, and his son Dan, according to the Boston Herald. Also on hand were golf pros Vijay Singh, Ian Poulter, Anthony Kim, Rocco Mediate, and Cristie Kerr, said the Herald.
(Photo: Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times, part of Times’ online photo gallery)
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out on the Waggle Room, Boston Golf Examiner, National Golf Examiner, and GottaGoGolf websites. You may also follow Kay on Twitter @golfexaminer.)
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