{"id":395925,"date":"2026-04-13T08:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T08:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/395925\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T08:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T08:22:12","slug":"rory-mcilroys-home-club-celebrates-back-to-back-masters-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/395925\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy\u2019s home club celebrates back-to-back Masters champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were scenes of jubilation at a Rory McIlroy\u2019s home golf club as he claimed back-to-back Masters titles.<\/p>\n

McIlroy\u2019s hometown Holywood Golf Club in Co Down erupted in cheers as he tapped in a putt to win by one on 12-under-par at Augusta National.<\/p>\n

\"HolywoodCelebrations at Holywood Golf Club. Photo: Liam McBurney\/PA.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old became the fourth man to win consecutives Masters titles, having first secured the green jacket \u2013 and career grand slam \u2013 last year.<\/p>\n

Joining Nick Faldo with six major wins, McIlroy did not make it easy on himself \u2013 or fans who were at times left with their heads in their hands.<\/p>\n

\"HolywoodFans cheer on Rory McIlroy at Holywood Golf Club in County Down. Photo: Liam McBurney\/PA.<\/p>\n

Those watching on were well used to the nerve-wracking rollercoaster of emotions that comes with supporting the Co Down man.<\/p>\n

Tables filled up early in the night, following a Sunday roast, with around 150 people cheering on the hometown hero.<\/p>\n

Amid chants of \u201cRory, Rory, Rory\u201d, spirits were high with the bar serving Masters-themed cocktails \u2013 including a \u201cRory\u2019s Green Jacket\u201d with Irish gin, Belfast elderflower cordial, lime and soda.<\/p>\n

\"HolywoodA Rory McIlroy-themed cocktail was on offer. Photo: Liam McBurney\/PA.<\/p>\n

Six clear on Friday night, what could have been a procession was anything but for McIlroy. The final round was typical McIlroy, who looked to be playing himself out of it on the front nine before rallying with a series of birdies.<\/p>\n

With a two-shot cushion on the last hole, he made it tough for himself by carving his drive into the trees on the right before hitting his approach shot into the bunker.<\/p>\n

\"HolywoodCelebrations in Holywood. Photo: Liam McBurney\/PA.<\/p>\n

He emerged from the sand unscathed and two-putted to secure the title by a shot.<\/p>\n

On the green, he hugged his best friend and caddie Harry Diamond before another hug off the green with his daughter Poppy.<\/p>\n

After kissing his wife Erica, he embraced his parents Rosie and Gerry.<\/p>\n

There were cheers and hugs as fans rose to their feet when McIlroy finally secured a second green jacket, inspiring the next generation who hope to follow in his footsteps.<\/p>\n

Sullivan Upper School, where McIlroy studied, was represented among those cheering on.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Press Association at Holywood Golf Club, 19-year-old Zach Woods said he and his friends thought the victory was \u201creally inspiring\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"HolywoodCelebrations in Holywood Golf Club (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt is great to be honest, to see a boy from our community achieve such great things.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt pushes us to strive to do the best that we can to achieve the things that we love.\u201d<\/p>\n

18-year-old Ollie Keown came over from Scotland under the guise of revising for exams, but somehow found time to cheer on McIlroy.<\/p>\n

He said this year\u2019s victory was better than 2025, which he said made him \u201cmore nervous\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"HolywoodHolywood Golf Club clubhouse in County Down. Photo: Liam McBurney\/PA.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI\u2019m just amazed, stunned \u2013 I loved every second of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On returning to Scotland, he said: \u201cWe\u2019ll see how long the celebrations last.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamish Johnson, 18, said he \u201cnever doubted\u201d McIlroy, adding: \u201cHe\u2019s got the potential to be the best ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people probably thought it was outlandish to dream the things that I wanted to do but I had amazing support back home and I can’t think them all enough for that continued support<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy<\/p>\n

Celebrating the win, Leah James told the Press Association \u201cit was just fantastic\u201d to watch along at Holywood \u2013 having had to sneakily try and keep up with the action while on night shift last year.<\/p>\n

James, from Bangor and a member at Holywood, said McIlroy brought a lot of interest to the club.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/p>\n

Sport<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy defends Masters title with another historic victory at Augusta<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

She said the back-to-back wins were \u201cincredible\u201d, reflecting: \u201cHe was just so calm and so collected this year and seeing him do it made my day \u2013 just happy for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back at Augusta, an emotional McIlroy thanked those in Holywood for their support.<\/p>\n

Asked for his message to those watching at home during the green jacket presentation, he said: \u201cI was a little kid with a dream and the support that I had from my family, friends and everyone back at home \u2013 some people probably thought it was outlandish to dream the things that I wanted to do but I had amazing support back home and I can\u2019t thank them all enough for that continued support.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There were scenes of jubilation at a Rory McIlroy\u2019s home golf club as he claimed back-to-back Masters titles.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-395925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}