Rory McIlroy Is Living The High Life

Rory McIlroy managed a smile, but inside he had to be cringing.

McIlroy was preparing to play the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March, where the world’s Top 50-ranked golfers were entered, when tournament host Donald Trump (you might have heard of him) approached with a club in hand.

McIlroy knew what was coming. Two days earlier, he’d made the wrong kind of splash when he hurled his three-iron into a lake, chasing after the ball he had sent splashing into the same body of water. It was an uncharacteristic show of petulance for the 25-year-old golfer. He regretted it immediately. “It felt good at the time, but not so good now,” he said.

The lowlight had been replayed thousands of times around the globe. That, as McIlroy is beginning to learn, is what happens when you’re the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world. Despite holding that top spot for more than 70 consecutive weeks, people like failure—especially failure followed by a meltdown, however slight.

McIlroy has become the fresh face of professional golf, and Trump, always looking for an opportunity to draw some of the spotlight, was about to pounce. Trump had paid a scuba diver to retrieve the three-iron so he could make a big show out of presenting the club to McIlroy on the range. In full view of the gallery and the media, naturally.

“You know Donald. He’s never one to miss an opportunity,” says McIlroy, who managed to handle the awkward scene with grace. But Trump wasn’t finished. He asked Rory if he could return the club after the round so the financial mogul could mount the three-iron in the clubhouse of his Trump National Doral resort near Miami. Hilarious.