2007 News Archive

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Northern Ireland’s teenage prodigy Rory McIlroy fired a bogey free 69 to announce his professional arrival on The European Tour in style at The Quinn Direct British Masters, where he is only four strokes behind the leader, Sweden’s Jarmo Sandelin, who shot an opening day 65 at The Belfry.

Sandelin leads

MCILROY SHINES IN PROFESSIONAL DEBUT

However, given his exploits at The Open Championship at Carnoustie, where he picked the Silver Medal, and his starring role at The Walker Cup, the media interest in McIlroy’s professional debut was vast.

The 18 year old from Holywood was an early starter, going off at 7.50am from the famous tenth hole at The Belfry in the company of 1999 Open Champion, Scotland’s Paul Lawrie, and Kjeldsen.

Yet it was an experience the level-headed youngster took in his stride, and talking about his first round as a professional, he said: “It was okay – I wasn’t really as nervous as I was at The Open. I just went out and played, strolled and hit a few good shots and holed a few putts. If I can keep doing that the rest of the week, I’ll be very happy.”

Sandelin’s 65 was even more noteworthy given exactly a week ago, he was bed-ridden. He said: “To be honest, last Thursday afternoon, I couldn't walk.  I had a big pain, back pain.  I was in bed for Thursday night, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Something had happened with my back – the muscles were cramped up because I have been working out too much – but I had a really good treatment.

“The strange thing is that now when I go to the gym or just standing up, I'm asking, ‘what happened last week?’  Last week at this time, I couldn't walk. So I haven't done that much, and maybe that has been good; to appreciate to be healthy.”

Sandelin admitted he has struggled this season, after missing 13 cuts in 2007, but had found returning to The Belfry, where he finished runner-up last year, a confidence booster.

However, he is not setting any end of season targets as he tries to retain his card. “I've been in this situation obviously a few times now over the last four or five years, so I don't even think about that,” he said. “I have to think about just trying to hit good golf shots, that's it, and see where destiny takes me.”

Kjeldsen, who was tied sixth at the Mercedes-Benz Championship last week, continued his good form and admitted his compatriot Soren Hansen’s victory was pushing him on.

He said: “Soren’s win has definitely inspired me. If you look at the past, when one of the other guys has won, we’ve come through as well, so I think it works for us. There’s another Scandinavian leaderboard here with Jarmo at the top, but it’s still early days.

“It was a good start. The key was I’ve been driving the ball very well and did again today. I did last weekend and again today. The greens were pure and I made a few putts too. Being out early was an advantage – I don’t think they will spike up too badly. I played the Pro-am yesterday afternoon and they were still perfect today. That makes scoring a little easier, but it is a tough golf course. There’s some good scoring out there."

And having had a first-hand view of McIlroy’s debut, Kjeldsen commented: “Rory played brilliantly. He’s got a lot of game and it’s hard to believe he’s only 18. He’s got a great future ahead of him, he’s a nice guy and I wish him luck. Of course, playing with someone so young takes you back to when you started out. You try and compare. I thought, ‘what was I like at 18,’ but I was nowhere near as good. But it will be interesting to follow his career and see how he does.”

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