Rory McIlroy presented with drawing of himself by young fan at the Open
Teenager Lucia Heaney gave McIlroy a copy of her drawing before the golfer signed a portrait for Lucia to keep for herself.
The 15-year-old from Magherafelt won Tourism Northern Ireland's art competition with her portrait of the Grand Slam winner.
Lucia's winning design featuring the Harland and Wolff Cranes and the Giant's Causeway.
Holywood star McIlroy, who sealed the career Grand Slam when he won the Masters in April, is one of the big draws at this week's Open.
Speaking on Monday, McIlroy admitted he would take a different approach at Royal Portrush after the disappointment of missing the cut at The Open there in 2019.
"I spoke at the Masters, the battle was with myself. Whenever you get put in environments like that, it's you trying to overcome your mind and give yourself that clarity to put together a really good performance," he said.
Who is Rory McIlroy and what is golf's Career Grand Slam?
"In 2019 I probably tried to isolate and it's better for everyone if I embrace it. It's better for me because it's nice to be able to accept adulation, even though I struggle to accept it sometimes, but it's also nicer for the person because it's a nicer interaction.
"I'm going to embrace everything that comes my way this week and not try to hide away from it and that will make it a better experience for everyone involved."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Scottie Scheffler reacts to ‘silly' Tiger Woods comparisons after dominant victory at The Open
Scottie Scheffler has dismissed comparisons between himself and Tiger Woods after his dominant four-stroke victory at the Open Championship, labelling the talk as 'silly'. The American triumphed at Royal Portrush, retaining a four-stroke advantage overnight to post a final round of 68 to finish ahead of Harris English in second, with a late charge from Rory McIlroy and others failing to materialise. And after Scheffler clinched the Claret Jug, his fourth major championship and second of the year, in the same number of days since his first triumph at the 2022 Masters as Woods did between the 1997 Masters and 2000 Open Championship (1,197), many people in the game have placed the 29-year-old in the same bracket as the legendary 15-time major winner. 'I still think they're a bit silly,' Scheffler remarked. 'Tiger won, what, 15 majors? This is my fourth. I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf. He was inspirational for me growing up. He was a very, very talented guy, and he was a special person to be able to be as good as he was at the game of golf. 'I don't focus on that kind of stuff. That's not what motivates me. I'm not motivated by winning championships. I don't look at the beginning of the year and just say, hey, I want to win X amount of tournaments, I want to win whatever it is. ' don't do that. I have dreams and aspirations that I think about, but at the end of the day, when I wake up to practise, I feel like what motivates me is just getting out and getting to live out my dream. I get to play professional golf, and I feel like I'm called to do it to the best of my ability. 'When I wake up in the morning, I try and put max effort in each day I get to go out and practise. When I'm working out, when I'm doing the cold tub, doing recovery, I feel like I'm just called to do it to the best of my ability. Outside of that, I don't place much emphasis on winning tournaments. 'I don't place much emphasis on things that I can accomplish. It's just mostly about putting in the proper work and coming out here and competing.
Scottish Sun
28 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Scottie Scheffler resembles peak Tiger Woods as Rory McIlroy and Co nowhere close with eerie stat ominous for his rivals
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THERE is, perhaps, one glimmer of hope for every other professional golfer on the planet. And that is the possibility that Scottie Scheffler might once more encounter an overzealous traffic policeman and be led away from a Major championship in handcuffs. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 6 Scottie Scheffler cruised to The Open victory by four shots Credit: AP 6 Tiger Woods won three Opens as world No1 and dominated golf Credit: Getty 6 Scheffler was famously arrested during the PGA Championship at Valhalla last year Credit: EPA Little else, it seems, will stop the man who cruised to the Claret Jug at Portrush. Scheffler has now won 22 tournaments in three-and-a-half years and has finished inside the top ten at ten of the last 12 Majors, winning three of his last eight big ones. That extraordinary run includes last year's PGA Championship at Valhalla, when Scheffler was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer as well as 'third-degree criminal mischief' before his second round. The world No1 had his wrists shackled in irons, was dressed in orange for a police mugshot and yet still returned to the course and finished the tournament in eighth. READ MORE ON GOLF GREAT SCOTT Scottie Scheffler on cusp of joining elite group of golf greats if he wins Open Louisville's Department of Corrections eventually dropped all charges against Scheffler - a God-fearing Christian and a devoted family man with no other previous for any degree of mischief whatsoever. Save for his ability to spoil people's weekends by turning golf tournaments into processions. Scheffler is neither a charismatic man nor a thrilling golfer but he is incredibly, remorselessly good at this game - and his form over the past three years has resembled peak Tiger Woods. Woods took 1,197 days to win his fourth Major after he'd clinched his first. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS Scheffler did it in exactly the same timescale. Which sounds pretty damned ominous for everybody else. Next year, the two-time Masters winner and reigning USPGA champion will turn up at Shinnecock Hills in New York state for the US Open, determined to complete a career Grand Slam. Bryson DeChambeau reveals he used to beat Scottie Scheffler for fun as world No1 chases Open glory Rory McIlroy, who became only the sixth man to win a Grand Slam at Augusta in April, played pretty well at Portrush - especially during his 66 on Saturday - and yet the world No2 could never even lay a glove on the world No1, finishing seven shots back. There had been an inevitability about Scheffler since he started sharking his way up the leaderboard as a late starter on Friday, as menacing as a dorsal fin in a paddling pool. Between the 11th hole on Friday and the eighth on Sunday afternoon, Scheffler played 32 holes without dropping a single shot. Seven strokes clear of the field after seven holes of his final round, the Texan then took two attempts to escape from a fairway bunker and double-bogeyed. For a few feverish minutes, it felt as if there might be an outside chance of something genuinely interesting happening - especially as last week's Scottish Open champion Chris Gotterup had just carded a birdie to bring him within four of the lead. But ever since he won his first pro tournament in February 2022, Scheffler has proved he is no choker. He birdied the ninth and the procession continued. They might as well have carried him shoulder-high around these Dunluce links in a sedan chair. Leading by four heading into the final round, Scheffler drove left into the rough on the opening hole but, using his wedge like some kind of a wand, he landed the ball 16 inches from the hole. Around the first green there was barely a ripple of applause. None of them were close... this fella Scheffler is simply too damned good Perhaps they were all supreme optimists still believing in the possibility of a McIlroy miracle or perhaps they have seen enough of Scheffler to simply imagine that this kind of thing was somehow normal. After tapping in for birdie, Scheffler continued on his serene way, save for his scrape in the sandpit at eight. As soon as he had smoked his tee shot up the fourth fairway, one of Scheffler's fellow Americans yelled out "what's the point, Scoddie?" It referenced the philosophical pre-tournament press conference during which Scheffler had openly pondered the meaning of his existence, given the transient nature of his joy at winning tournaments. It had felt like the late voice of darts, Sid Waddell, evoking Alexander the Great shedding tears of salt because, by the age of 33, he had no more worlds to conquer. Scheffler is only 29. This turned out to be a 26th American triumph in the last 34 Majors and an 18th in the last 30 Opens. These Yanks, they come over here, complain about our weather, try to convince us that our conditions are alien to them, and then they carry off our Claret Jug, time after time after time. This ended up as an American one-two-three with Harris English four strokes behind Scheffler on 13-under and one ahead of Gotterup. Matt Fitzpatrick - the last man to lead this tournament before Scheffler seized the lead on Friday evening - was tied for fourth place with another American, Wyndham Clark, and China's Haotong Li. But, in truth, none of them were close. This fella Scheffler is simply too damned good. They'd better call up Officer Dibble. 6 The American was led away in handcuffs and put in a cell Credit: AP 6 Scheffler celebrated with wife Meredith and son Bennett on the 18th green Credit: PA
STV News
28 minutes ago
- STV News
Scheffler strolls to Open title and third leg of career Grand Slam
Scottie Scheffler's serene progress to his first Open Championship became a procession at Royal Portrush as the anticipated charge from Rory McIlroy failed to materialise and no-one else could get close to the relentless American. The reigning US PGA champion claimed the third leg of the career Grand Slam, and his fourth major in total, in some style and has only 11 months to wait to try to complete the set in the same four-year time-frame as 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus did. Only Tiger Woods has achieved it quicker but Scheffler is starting to be mentioned in the same breath – and he is still getting better. He won his first Masters by three, his second by four and May's US PGA by five. However, this was on another scale with his 17-under total giving him a four-shot victory over compatriot Harris English, also runner-up to him at the PGA, in McIlroy's own backyard, which was even more comfortable than the numbers suggest. No-one in the modern era has ever won their first four majors by three shots or more – Young Tom Morris, John Henry Taylor and James Braid all achieved it before the First World War. McIlroy completed his own career Grand Slam at Augusta in April and on Saturday night described victory here for Scheffler, who has now won 25 per cent of all majors since 2022, as 'inevitable'. It was not the boldest prediction ever made in sport but the manner in which his rival clinically clinched the title was nevertheless impressive after becoming only the fourth after Woods, Nicklaus and Gary Player to win the Masters, US PGA and Open before the age of 30. In his Tuesday press conference, in a rare glimpse of his inner thoughts, Scheffler spoke of how being successful at golf does not fulfil him, how he only gets a two-minute buzz from winning and being a good husband and father means more to him. So when he holed his last putt he finally allowed himself to show some emotion, tossing his cap into the air before hugging wife Meredith and son Bennett and being congratulated by parents Scott and Diane. But the 14-month-old Bennett's enjoyment of the victory lasted an even shorter time than his dad's, crying when he was taken from his arms so Scheffler could complete the formalities of signing his card. PA Media 'I don't really know exactly what to say. I know I wasn't the fan favourite today,' Scheffler said. 'When I'm inside the ropes I'm trying to compete – I don't think of much else. It will take a little while for this to sink in but right now it's pretty cool.' The chasing pack had teed off more in hope than expectation as the world number one had converted his previous nine 54-hole leads into victories and sure enough, a brilliant approach from the rough to inside a foot saw him birdie the first to pull further away from home favourite McIlroy, struggling for the fast start he needed from six shots behind. He never looked back as birdies at four and five were followed by a clutch 16-footer for par and his biggest show of emotion to date with a fist pump. Mcllroy had birdied the second, bogeyed the fourth and picked up another shot at the 607-yard seventh while, behind him Scheffler found a bunker off the tee but still unerringly holed a 15ft par putt. His over-confidence got the better of him out of sand at the next, hitting the face and leaving his ball in the trap resulting in a double-bogey – his first dropped shots in 33 holes. But if his challengers thought that had left the door ajar it was slammed shut at the very next hole when he landed his approach four feet from the pin to turn at 16 under. McIlroy's mis-hit chip at the 10th for double bogey ended his chances eight back. Birdies at 12 and 15 got him back to 10 under but he would get no closer. PA Media English emerged from the pack with a five-under 66 to take second, while compatriot Chris Gotterup proved last week's Scottish Open victory was no fluke with a 67 to finish third on 12 under. Gotterup briefly reduced the gap to four at 13 but Scheffler subsequently carded his fifth and final birdie of the day at 12 to keep him at arm's length. Former US Open champion Wyndham Clark raced through the field with a 65 but he had started from too far back and could only get to 11 under alongside England's Matt Fitzpatrick and China's Haotong Li. Scot Robert MacIntyre, after his US Open near miss, shot 67 for 10 under alongside McIlroy and defending champion Xander Schauffele. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
