Day in the Life of Rory McIlroy: He's wise beyond his years

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NEW YORK -- The first thing you notice about Rory McIlroy is what you don't notice. No bejeweled belt buckle. No diamond encrusted wristwatch the size of a satellite dish. No bling. Just the hair -- curly and overflowing -- and that Northern Irish accent.

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It's 8:30 on a Monday morning in midtown Manhattan at the Jumeirah Essex House Hotel, where McIlroy emerges from the elevator sleepy-eyed and carrying his own golf bag. But what 21-year-old wouldn't look like that after a week in the Big Apple, where McIlroy stayed during The Barclays.

Outside, barely noticeable in the hustle and bustle of Central Park South (this is New York City, after all) are a couple of black SUVs ready to take McIlroy, former European Tour player and McIlroy's current manager Stewart Cage, and a handful of other Jumeirah executives and their clients to a corporate outing at Scarsdale Golf Club in a leafy suburb of the same name 40 minutes outside Manhattan.

McIlroy does four of these sorts of days a year for Jumeirah, an exclusive hotel company based in Dubai and also McIlroy's biggest sponsor. In all, McIlroy says, he does about 11 or 12 corporate days a year for various sponsors. One such day included a hot air balloon, a bunch of people and an uneasy McIlroy. "I don't think that will happen again," McIlroy jokes.

When McIlroy arrives at Scarsdale, he laughs when he sees his last name is misspelled on his locker for the day. His manager later says that when McIlroy becomes famous enough, he can just go by the name "Rory." Or maybe by "Rors," which is stitched into the back of his Titleist hat. McIlroy has no such pretense, though. He jokes that his name is at least easier to spell and pronounce than that of British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen.

As McIlroy warms up on the range, he fields a handful of questions from passers-by before beginning the clinic, during which he launches drives so far and high that someone quips, in a thick New York accent, "Call air traffic control!"

McIlroy is asked about everything from how he hits his driver so straight and high -- he and Phil Mickelson launch it higher off the tee than most anyone on the PGA TOUR -- to questions about Mickelson and Tiger Woods, to the secret to flexibility in golf.

"Lots of Guinness," jokes McIlroy of the latter as he does a curling motion with his arm.

Truth be told, Guinness isn't his favorite beer. "I never drink it," says McIlroy, who adds that he prefers Corona or Heineken. Give him time. Remember, he's still just 21.

That's the thing with McIlroy, though. His choice of beer and sleep habits might be the only thing that resembles what many would consider a "normal" 21-year-old. He handles questions from people two and three times his age with the aplomb of someone who's been doing this for 15 years.

In some ways, McIlroy has. He turned pro at 15 years old, though he didn't join the TOUR until this year. His management company, ISM, which is spearheaded by Andrew "Chubby" Chandler, was careful to bring him along slowly and not overexpose him. McIlroy's relationship with fellow countryman Darren Clarke -- they met when McIlroy was 13 -- has also meant an awful lot.

"Darren pulled me aside [at the tournament for his foundation] and said 'Here's my number, you need anything call me,' " McIlroy explains. "It's been a great relationship. We spend a lot of time together at tournaments. It's good to have someone to hang out with, guys that are a little older if you want a little advice. It's nice to have it if you ever need it."

If that doesn't speak volumes about McIlroy's maturity, his girlfriend, Holly Sweeney, does. Unlike some of his fellow pros -- such as his good friend Adam Scott, for example -- McIlroy has never been linked to movie stars or other famous athletes. Sweeney has been with McIlroy for the past five years, ever since the two met at McIlroy's golf club back home in Belfast.

Some caddie relationships don't last five years, never mind significant others -- especially when you're 21, famous, rich and traveling to beautiful places where there are beautiful people. Sweeney is blonde and bubbly and she and McIlroy seem completely smitten to the extent that he even takes a break from the golf to go back to the clubhouse to see her.

In all, McIlroy spends about five hours playing golf, moving from one group to the next every couple of holes, talking and answering questions and being polite. Never once does he show the slightest bit of disinterest despite temperatures nearing 90 degrees (it never gets that warm in Northern Ireland) and one horrendous swing after another -- the bigger the bank account, the bigger the handicap.

That's not to say McIlroy is vanilla. Among the tidbits he reveals: He has an utter disdain for Bermuda grass -- "I haaaate it," he says -- and that he's not exactly a fan of Pete Dye- designed courses, either. He also has no plans to move to the U.S., is into cars (he has a Range Rover and an R8 Spyder), is building his own practice facility at home and doesn't back off his recent comments about a willingness to play against Tiger in this week's Ryder Cup.

"I would love to face him," McIlroy told the BBC last month. "Unless his game rapidly improves, I think anyone on the European team would fancy their chances against him."

Asked about that very quote during the outing McIlroy stands firm, saying that if you look at how Woods had played at the time -- he had just come off shooting 18 over for the week at Firestone -- that such a comment wasn't so much trash-talking as much as it was based on the facts of someone who wasn't playing very well.

"Tiger Woods this year, not having practiced that much and not having played, is a lot easier to beat than the Tiger that was playing great 18 months ago," McIlroy says.

McIlroy does, however, also have a tremendous amount of respect for the No. 1 player in the world, something many think he will be in the not-too-distant future. As a kid, McIlroy had a poster of Woods hanging in his room -- much the way Woods had all of Jack Nicklaus' records plastered on his walls. And McIlroy says Woods is the guy he wanted to be. Now he just wants to beat him.

"[The aura of Woods] has definitely changed for me," McIlroy says. "He still has 14 majors, but instead of being the best player in the world he's one of the best players in the world now.

"I haven't had the experiences that Sergio [Garcia] or Ernie [Els] or [Phil] Mickelson had playing against him like that with him beating me down the stretch. The same is true for A.K., [Rickie] Fowler, Dustin [Johnson] as well. I think the guys that are coming out are not as mentally scarred."

That's the closest thing to bulletin board material you'll get from McIlroy, currently No. 9 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He understands the importance of relationships and sponsors and the media. But that shouldn't be confused for some sort of lack of desire. That was evident when he shot 62 earlier this year in the final round of the Quail Hollow Championship, where he won for the first time on TOUR, and then opened with a 63 a month later in the British Open at St. Andrews, which he says is the one place he'd like to win more than any other.

For now, though, McIlroy is ready for the golf and the season, save for the Ryder Cup, to be over with. He caps off his corporate day with a cocktail hour in the clubhouse at Scarsdale Golf Club, then heads back to New York City, where he'll spend that night and the next day at the U.S. Open tennis tournament going on in nearby Queens.

From there, it was off to Boston for the Deutsche Bank Championship and, now this week, the Ryder Cup in Wales, where he hopes to not only play Woods but help lead Europe to victory.

After that? Perhaps one day soon, a spot atop the world rankings as the best player on the planet.

Note: Brian Wacker's Day in the Life with Rory McIlroy was the second in a series. Last month, he chronicled a Day in the Life of rising PGA TOUR star Ryan Moore.