Johannesburg – Rory McIlroy has revealed that he hero-worshipped Tiger Woods while growing up as a young golfer, and still has a great deal of respect for him now.
"I'm probably one of the biggest Tiger fans you will ever come across," the world number two said in an in-depth interview with Paul Kimmage of the Sunday Independent in Ireland.
"I remember going to play at Doral (in Miami) when I was eight or nine – my first tournament over there – and being on the 18th fairway of the 'Blue Monster' thinking: 'Wow! Tiger has been here. He's been on the same fairway!'"
McIlroy also disclosed details of a visit to Wentworth in 1998, when he was nine years old, to watch the World Match Play Championship, which that year saw Woods and fellow American Mark O'Meara contest the final.
"We (the McIlroy family) used to go over every Halloween for the weekend because it was half-term. The tournament would have already started but we'd see the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. I ran 36 holes around Wentworth every day – and I mean ran. But I loved every minute of it, and I was so small I was able to duck in between people and get right up next to the rope and see everything."
O'Meara, incidentally, beat Woods by one hole in the final, although a photographer clicked his shutter at the par-5 18th (the 36th hole of the match) in the afternoon just as Woods was about to drive. "You've got to be kidding," Tiger, one down at that stage, screamed at the cameraman before backing off. Clearly upset, he then regrouped and pulled his tee-shot into a fairway bunker, effectively ending his chances of making eagle and keeping the match alive. Once the match was over, young Rory was cock-a-hoop when O'Meara tossed the winning ball to him.
If McIlroy was a huge Woods fan as a youngster, he remains so to this day. "I've never chatted to him about how I felt about him as a kid," he told Kimmage. "I've said things like, 'I was inspired by you', but I wouldn't want to show him any sort of weakness (laughs). But, yeah, he was a massive hero of mine."
McIlroy revealed in the interview that even today he is drawn to Woods. "He’s an intriguing character because you could spend two hours in his company and see four different sides to him. When he’s comfortable and he trusts you – he’s great. He’s thoughtful. He’s smart. He reads," he said.
"He can’t sleep so that’s all he does – he reads stuff and educates himself on everything. But he struggles to sleep, which I think is an effect of over-training, so I tell him to calm down sometimes. He’d be texting me at four o’clock in the morning: ‘Up lifting. What are you doing?’"
The Ulsterman, who turns 28 in March and who already has four Majors in the bag, also disclosed how Jack Nicklaus has taught him balance in life. Even though Nicklaus won a record 18 Majors, he has always insisted that family comes before golf.
"Every player has got to find the balance between ambition and sanity. Now, were Major championships my focus? Yes. Were they my sole focus in life? No – my family always came before that. Could I have worked harder and won more Majors? Probably. Could I have driven myself crazy doing it? Absolutely'" is how Nicklaus summed up his feelings.
McIlroy resonates with that: "There are certain goals I want to achieve: I want a career Grand Slam. I want to become the best ever European player, records-wise – Faldo has that at the minute – and maybe get to double-digit Majors. They are long-term goals, and of course I want to achieve them, but I don’t want to sacrifice my happiness at the same time."