“What are we all going to talk about next year?”
That was Rory McIlroy’s famous line to the media as he sat with the green jacket on and Masters trophy by his side after claiming victory at the prestigious tournament on his 17th attempt. The Holywood man silenced the doubters and wrote himself into the history books as one of just six players to complete golf’s Grand Slam – by winning The Masters, The US Open, The Open and The PGA Championship.
In 2011, as a 21-year-old, it looked like Rory had it in the bag. He held the 54 hole lead and was three shots ahead in his final round before the turn and then his infamous Masters meltdown happened when he unravelled on the back nine. He ended up in places he didn’t even know existed trying to save his round but finished with an eight over par 80 to tie for 15th place.
The resulting scar tissue cut so deep that it took Rory another 14 years to finally conquer his Everest. If you watched it, you had no nails left and as his mum and dad revealed in the new Rory documentary on Amazon, some needed a drink to get through his final round in 2025.
Again McIlroy had the lead but he lost it twice and eventually went to a play off with Justin Rose before securing the green jacket.
The outpouring of emotion was like nothing we’ve quite seen before in golf. The complete and utter relief oozed out of every fibre of Rory’s being.
From convolutions of tears and roaring to the gripping scenes that followed as he embraced his caddie, wife Erica and daughter Poppy with smiles, laughter and more tears. The truth is the dream had been going on longer than 17 years, this was a dream Rory penned as an eight year old boy that he would one day win all of golf’s four majors.
We’ve all seen the journey from the washing machine on the Kelly Show to the 10 year drought in majors. But you’d have to be twisted not to have been rooting for Rory in Augusta last year and it would be hard to find a final day of drama like it that was a pure rollercoaster of emotions.
Even after it was all over and the Green jacket had been placed on what were now the lightest shoulders in golf, the floodgates reopened as McIlroy singled out his family and told Poppy to “never give up on your dream”. It was the ultimate fairytale story, a young boy with a dream, the work ethic of an elite champion and the talent of a superstar.
For 16 years Rory was asked at every pre Masters press conference if he’d been able to put the past behind him. Now the pain has been erased and the battle of the course and mind is over, he’ll go into this year’s first major of the year burden free.
And as he gets ready to defend his title at Augusta this month I for one am intrigued to find out the answer to his question… “what are we all going to talk about?”
Not only we will have Rory to cheer on, we also know how dangerous his close friend Shane Lowry is in majors.
He just celebrated his fourth PGA Tour hole in one at the Houston Open at Memorial Park a few days ago. And for the first time Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin has qualified for the prestigious tournament at Augusta National. The 23 year old grew up watching his hero Rory at the Masters each year so this will be an incredibly special week for the Belfast man. This year the Masters falls during the Easter holidays so that’s a few days itinerary sorted for the golf fans among us!
Interviewing Michael Conlan as he announced his retirement after defeat in Belfast last month
One man who’ll be spending a bit more time on the golf course now is Michael Conlan after announcing his retiring from boxing.
The golf fanatic came to the hard decision to walk away from the sport after 27 years after his defeat to American Kevin Walsh in the SSE Arena in Belfast last month.
Like McIlroy, Conlan chased his boyhood dream of becoming a World Champion. He was World Amateur Champion before going to the Olympics to achieve another goal of the gold medal but in a cruel twist was denied by a dodgy decision that later was proved to be wrong.
That changed his life as he went on to become professional and Top Rank signed him as their next star. For his pro debut he headlined Madison Square Garden on St Patrick’s Day, it doesn’t get much bigger than that.
But more big nights followed and he achieved things most fights could only dream of. Unfortunately he didn’t get to dictate his terms but in a moving interview in his dressing room afterwards, sitting with his family, he admitted the time had come to put them first over his dream.
Huge congratulations to Belfast’s two-time World Champion Anto Cacace who lifted the WBA belt in Dublin on St Patrick’s weekend
Just a couple of weeks before that, Anto Cacace became a two weight world champion in the 3 Arena in Dublin. The Andytown Apache jumped higher than the horses at Cheltenham as he heard the words “and the new” echoing through the 3 Arena on the same night that the Ireland rugby team was almost presented with the Six Nations title across the city in the Aviva Stadium only to be denied by a last second Thomas Ramos kick for France to snatch victory in Paris in the most dramatic of penalties ever taken after being moments away from losing to England.
Ulster Rugby’s Stuart McCloskey is shortlisted for Player of the Six Nations Championship after his stand out performances for Ireland
Many are calling the 2026 tournament the greatest ever Six Nations and when you consider the unpredictable results and twists along the way it’s hard to urge with that. Special mention to Ulster centre Stuart McCloskey, shortlisted for Player of the Championship after being Ireland’s MVP over the last couple of months.
As if that wasn’t enough drama for us all, both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland missed out on a place in this summer’s World Cup finals after semi final play-off defeats on the same night.
With an average age of just 22-years-old, Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland side did extremely well to hold Italy at 0-0 until the 56th minute in Bergamo. But with home advantage and history on their side the Italians wrapped it up in the 80th minute with goal number two.
They may not be the Italian side of old, but they were desperate not to become the first former winner of the World Cup to miss out on three consecutive finals.
The Republic of Ireland will be licking their wounds for a little longer as they were 2-0 up against the Czech Republic before missing out on a play off final through a penalty shootout.
Travelling through Dublin airport I witnessed what sport does to us all. Both sets of supporters wearing their different shades of green heading out to Prague and Bergamo with optimism written all over their beaming faces.
But on the homeward journey dejection and disappointment best described their demeanour. The two sets of supporters would have added plenty of colour to the World Cup as they would’ve painted the cities green but it’s the players who will miss out on the experience the most.
Both teams have proven they can compete with the best but neither could get over the line this time. The pursuit of the dream continues…
We bumped into Northern Ireland’s official Stat man Marshall Gillespie and his family and his family while filming in Bergamo
With Italian Sports Correspondent Tancredi Palmeri after the game in Bergamo
This year was one of the greatest Six Nations Championships of all time
