Rory McIlroy Is Living The High Life
But, such is the life of Rory McIlroy these days. He makes millions of dollars a year by chasing a little white ball and will earn hundreds of millions more by playing with Nike clubs (for which he signed a 10-year, $200-million contract, well more than double the groundbreaking deal Woods signed a decade ago), wearing Omega watches and listening to Bose headphones. In fact, in 2014, Golf Digest ranked McIlroy—and his roughly $50-million annual takehome—as the third highest-paid golfer, just behind perennial high earners Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. And he’s poised to surpass Andy Murray and David Beckham as the highest paid athlete in the UK, where he’s as big a star as they come.
It’s no surprise, then, that even a rich guy like Trump wants to be seen in McIlroy’s company. Consider: four days after the Trump scene, McIlroy was headed to Augusta National to get in some practice rounds for the Masters with another guy you’re familiar with, Super Bowl quarterback Tom Brady. And earlier this year, after clinching the No. 1 spot for the first time, McIlroy received texts of congratulations from some of his own sporting idols, the stars of his favorite soccer team, Manchester United.
Then again, that’s all, uh, par for the course for McIlroy. The Northern Irishman doesn’t just get his face on the covers of sports magazines anymore. He’s crossed over into a mega-star territory, where you can also read about him on the gossip pages of the New York Post and most all of the British tabloids.
On the course, McIlroy has more than justified his earnings and Nike’s sizeable investment. He won the British Open and PGA Championship last year for the third and fourth major titles of his young career. At the Masters, he had a chance to join Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only golfers to have won all four majors by 25, not to mention moving within one measely US Open title of joining Woods as the only player to hold all four major trophies at the same time.
