It’s fair to say that this column hasn’t been Rory McIlroy’s staunchest supporter since his emergence as golf’s next great white hope after landing the leading amateur prize in the 2007 British Open – finding it hard to warm to his anointed Sullivan Upper School status.
A few months after claiming the silver medal the County Down teenager turned pro, destined, it seemed, to conquer Europe, and then succeed Tiger Woods as the future of the global game.
