It is time for Rory McIlroy to pair up with his father, Gerry McIlroy, for the team championship at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in St. Andrews, Scotland. The Northern Irishman has been pairing up with his father for the past eight years and enjoying the one thing both have always enjoyed: golf.

Gerry McIlroy was the one who introduced golf to his only son as early as he was in a stroller. At the age of 21 months, he gifted him a plastic club. Giving McIlroy his dream career, the Northern Irishman’s father and his mother, Rosie McIlroy, made many sacrifices. Gerry used to work at least three jobs; one was being a bartender at the Holywood Golf Club, and in his off time, he used to do more jobs at local clubs, including cleaning toilets and showers. Meanwhile, his wife used to work at the factory near Belfast to support her son’s dream.

Now, after two decades, McIlroy is successful, and it seems that Gerry McIlroy doesn’t need to work to support his son anymore, as he had down what the parents expected their special child to be. The two first teed up at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2009 and since then have been a regular pair at the Pro-Am Team Championship, the Daily Mail reported. 

However, in all of their appearances, McIlroy and his father have not yet won the team championship; the closest they were to victory was at the 2019 team championship when they came second to Tommy Fleetwood and his close friend, Odgen Phipps II. This time, the father and son will be hoping to lift the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Team Championship trophy.

Regardless, McIlroy and his father have shared many special moments with each other as he grew bigger and better at golf. And even though Ultserman had stated that he would never be able to pay back his parents, in 2014, McIlroy’s golf did benefit his father a ton.

Rory McIlroy’s father has always been confident about his success

As said, Gerry McIlroy always knew that his son was a prodigy in the golf game. He had excellent swings and was almost the ‘Tiger Woods from Holywood,’ but still, at the age of 15, predicting that his son would go on to win the Open Championship was a little ambitious. At that age, McIlroy was not even close to making a professional debut, but his father had called a local betting shop in Holywood and put a $216 wager that McIlroy would win the Open before turning 25.

The Ladbroke, betting shopping, gave him 500-1 odds. But not only Gerry McIlroy, even his friends were confident that McIlroy would win the Claret Jug. One friend wagered 250-1 for $224 that he would win in a decade, and another put a bet that McIlroy would a major before turning 50 at 150-1 odds at the same shop. Exactly ten years later and two months before turning 25, McIlroy didn’t disappoint his father and friends and won the 2014 Open Championship over Sergio García and Rickie Fowler.

McIlroy’s father won nearly $131,000 from his bet while his friends received $100,000 combined. One can only admire the support that Gerry McIlroy had for his son despite him being young, which probably had soared McIlroy’s confidence in his game and pushed him to become the better golfer he currently is.