It was a stellar weekend for Rory McIlroy as he won the Canadian Open by two strokes. He played some amazing golf, pocketed over 1.5 million dollars and took a savage dig at Greg Norman.
He did all this without his usual caddie Harry Diamond on the bag, as Diamond stayed at home with his wife who is due to give birth. Because of this, McIlroy's friend Niall O'Connor was on the bag instead.
O'Connor will be familiar to Ulster Rugby fans, having played fly-half for Ulster for four years between 2007 and 2011, making over 50 appearances for the province. He then moved to Connacht in 2012 before returning to Ulster a year later. O'Connor retired in 2014 after spending a season at Jersey.
O'Connor caddied for McIlroy once before at the 2019 DP Dubai World Championships. Earlier this week, McIlroy spoke about his relationship with O'Connor:
“Sort of bonded through my love of rugby and him playing and our love of golf,” said McIlroy. “He made the move over to the States a few years ago and (we) kept close.”
McIlroy won the RBC Canadian Open on 19-under par, finishing two shots ahead of second placed Tony Finau. 'Rors' took home a cool $1,566,000, with caddie O'Connor entitled to a 10% cut of the winnings.
That amounts to a total of $156,000. Not bad for four days work.
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