News NI
ReutersWelcome to Holywood.
The town in County Down has always been proud of local boy Rory McIlroy but it has reached a whole new level after his dramatic win on Sunday.
He finally joined a select club of just six golfers to achieve the career Grand Slam with victory in the Masters.
The boy from Holywood received his Hollywood ending, and the town is buzzing.
It may be a grey Monday in Holywood but the faces of sleep-deprived golf fans light up when they are asked about the rollercoaster scenes at Augusta.
John Reynolds, who lives in Holywood, said he was absolutely delighted that McIlroy “managed to finally get over the line”.
He watched every minute of the final day on Sunday.
“It was tortuous, it was not what we all expected. We were hoping for a triumphant run through the last round,” he said.
He said the win was massive for the town, and McIlroy’s “golfing immortality” was a good reflection on Holywood.
David Addis, who also lives in Holywood, was travelling on Sunday so he was listening on the radio as the “rollercoaster” unfolded.
“It’s the first time I’ve listened to a major sporting event as it evolved and because the journey was broken by a flight my understanding of it was interrupted for a full 55 minutes while it was swinging all over the place,” he said.
Mr Addis said he was elated with the result and people were “buzzing” in Holywood.
“I always thought he had a chance but after the near misses and especially when he kicked off the final day with a double bogey I thought, oh goodness it’s going to happen again, but he obviously is a lot more resilient now,” he added.
Holywood is a coastal town, not far from Belfast. It has a beach, a busy High Street and some pricey properties.
Every time McIlroy wins a major, one of the bakeries makes biscuits with his face on them and they were on the shelves early on Monday morning.
TV and film writer Declan Lawn was on his way to edit the latest series of Blue Lights in Holywood when he bumped into News NI.
He stayed up “into the wee hours” to watch McIlroy.
“It was worth every second,” he said. “It’s one of the greatest sporting stories ever in history.
“He was fighting his demons, and fighting the past and fighting himself and he didn’t do it perfectly. He had to find courage to come back and he did. It’s such a human story, a Hollywood ending.”
Getty ImagesFellow Northern Irish sporting hero Lady Mary Peters said she was absolutely overjoyed at McIlroy’s success.
“He has been so close in the past and didn’t quite make it but this was his right time to do it,” she said.
Lady Peters was the 1972 Olympic champion in the pentathlon.
“It changes your life forever, the world is his oyster now,” she said.
Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Gavin Robinson, said McIlroy had “never forgotten where he has come from.”
“It is a wonderful achievement for him,” he said. “To be able to fulfil that dream is beyond all of our wildest expectations.”
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McIlroy was schooled in Holywood – he first attended St Patrick’s Primary School before moving on to Sullivan Upper School.
His passion for the sport grew from his father, a keen golfer, who took him to the golf course in his pram.
McIlroy’s local course, Holywood Golf Club, is on the slopes of the Holywood hills.
McIlroy turned professional in 2007 and won his first major in 2011 at the US Open, and in 2012 he won the PGA Championship in 2012.
He then won The Open in 2014. leaving the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam.
