News NI community correspondent
Not even the early closure of the bar could spoil the party at Rory McIlroy’s hometown golf club after his long-awaited Masters victory.
The last pints of beer and glasses of wine were served at Holywood Golf Club more than two hours before the dramatic golf tournament ended, but nobody cared.
Everyone was drinking in the excitement as their Holywood hero finally clinched golf’s grand slam just after midnight UK-time.
Winning all four major tournaments has taken longer than McIlroy, and his fans, expected.
Hence one of the biggest emotions after the Rory rollercoaster round on Sunday night was relief.
“I was absolutely sick with nerves,” the club’s lady captain Ruth Watt admitted.
“We thought he had thrown it away…but it was an unbelievable finish. I’m going home for a gin and tonic.”
The club’s bar licence meant no more drinks were served after 10pm, and those ordered before then had to be downed by 10.30pm.
The focus was the sinking of putts, rather than pints, for the next two hours as the Masters came to a cliff-hanger conclusion.
“Come on Rory” roared the club members, many of whom watched him grow up at the club. He still has his own parking space in the car park.
As a child, McIlroy lived in Holywood with his parents Gerry and Rosie and learned his golf on the hilly local course.
At the bottom of the hill is the school he attended, Sullivan Upper, which awards green blazers to pupils who excel at sport.
Some of the current crop of sixth-formers came to the golf club to watch the Masters, wearing their green blazers.
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McIlroy first made headlines in Northern Ireland as a kid when he went on local television and nonchalantly chipped golf balls into a washing machine.
“My stomach feels like Rory’s old washing machine,” said one club member after McIlroy missed a straightforward par putt on the 18th hole which would have won the tournament.
It felt like the air had gone out of a balloon, as the atmosphere dropped in the clubhouse during the wait for the play-off to start.
What was also apparent was a huge respect, and indeed some affection, for McIlroy’s opponent Justin Rose.
“It’s impossible not to like Justin Rose. It’s the English Rose against the Irish shamrock,” said one golfer, as everyone chatted nervously before the play-off.
The two biggest cheers of the night soon followed; McIlroy’s straight drive from the tee at the first play-off hole and then his spectacular second shot, which ended up only three-feet from the hole.
The rest is history.
It was a night that will live long in the memory of Holywood Golf Club.
It is a quiet town in County Down sandwiched between two cities, Belfast and Bangor.
However, the town was making a lot of noise on Sunday night.
The golf club’s men’s captain Trevor Heaven said: “I never doubted Rory, even after his bad start. Patience was the key.”
Now he cannot wait to welcome McIlroy back home, in his new green jacket.
Club members ended the night toasting the new Masters champion by raising a glass to him… a glass of water.
