Tour News
McIlroy’s Dad Wins $171,000 Bet on Son
Rory McIlroy is winning big these days, and not just for himself.
The Northern Irishman opened the final round of the 2014 Open Championship with a six-shot lead, and while his margin was shaved to two on multiple occasions, he breezed home to a two-stroke victory and his third major championship.
He has now won the U.S. Open, PGA Championship and Open Championship, all by the age of 25. And apparently not a moment sooner.
As the golfing media has notified the public all weekend, McIlroy’s father, Gerry, and three of his friends bet on Rory winning the Open Championship.
But it wasn’t at the 14/1 odds bookies marked McIlroy at in the beginning of the week. They didn’t even wager on this particular Open Championship.
Instead, Gerry and the gang placed a bet on Rory back in 2004, when the 15-year-old Holywood lad was beginning to rip it up on the amateur scene. A father believed in his son’s talent and, as originally reported, he and his friends placed a 400-pound wager at 500/1 odds that Rory would win the Open Championship by the age of 25.
Well, McIlroy turned 25 this year in May and there has been some confusion as to whether that still makes him eligible, but it was later confirmed that the bet was still solid until he turned 26. That meant the 2014 Open was Rory’s last chance to do good for his father and friends, and he absolutely delivered.
Rory raised the Claret Jug Sunday and, at the reported conditions, his dad and friends raked in 200,000 pounds (roughly $340,000) from their decade-old gamble. And in case any of you are looking to poke holes in a feel good story, Rory admitted to knowing about the wager and clarified that his father had not once brought it up to him in the 10 years since the gamble was posted.
But there is one caveat: The reported figures involved were not entirely correct.
In the aftermath of McIlroy’s win, ESPN’s Darren Rovell sought to confirm the details of this wager and offered us his findings.
The gist of what he discovered—via a spokesperson for Ladbrokes, the British betting firm that McIlroy’s father and his friends made wagers with—involved minor discrepancies from previous information.
Earlier reports stated that in 2004 each of the four parties bet 100 pounds at 500/1. But the real breakdown proved to be slightly different. There was actually a singular 200-pound bet—believed to be laid down by papa McIlroy—made in 2004 at 500/1 odds that Rory would win an Open by age 26. With the 25-year-old winning this week, the bet will pay out $171,000.
The sizable wager was the only one that depended on Rory capturing golf’s oldest tournament by this year. There were two other bets put down in 2005, allegedly placed by the father’s friends. One was 200-pounds at 250/1 odds that McIlroy would win an Open Championship by 2015, with the other being a 200-pound bet at 150/1 odds that the then-teenager would prove victorious in the Open before age 50. Combined, these two will pay out $136,700. Add that to the $171,000, and the total from the three bets is $307,700, more than $30,000 less than originally reported.
Of course this is all semantics, as the figures remain massive and the whole charade displays an outstanding foresight into a child’s talents. McIlroy certainly was no shlub at the time of the wagers, and his father even noticed that the bookies were starting to catch onto the young lad’s skill.
But this was all before McIlroy ever attained No. 1 status in the world amateur rankings, which he did in 2007, or really introduced himself on the international stage with a strong first round and silver medal showing at that year’s Open Championship.
Whatever the case, our memories are failing us a little here, as we are somewhat rehashing old news. Information on this bet wasn’t widely disseminated before, yet it came up during the 2011 U.S. Open, when McIlroy captured his first major and suddenly looked highly capable of earning father and friends the big bucks.
If we are going on pure money term these are the most impressive bets ever made on McIlroy. They aren’t the only notable ones though.
When McIlroy was simply an unknown lad at Holywood golf club in the early 2000s, he played with a man who quickly became so enamored with young Rory’s talent, that he immediately went to bet on the teenager’s golfing future.
The wager? That McIlroy, at 500-1 odds, would win a major by the age of 25. He received his payout a decade later following the 2011 U.S. Open, a 25,000-pound ($36,000) killing for a 50-pound ($72) investment. The man remained anonymous following his successful and unbelievably prescient gamble.
All in all, it’s a pretty grand old story, even if the details were a bit confused. Such gambling may be obvious in hindsight. But according to the Ladsbroke representative from Rovell’s story, of the approximate 600 wagers made on offspring winning, known as “special odds requests,” every two years, only one comes through in the end.
With that, it’s probably not wise for these men to push their luck. A 2015 Masters wager appears enticing, with the Career Grand Slam opportunity, McIlroy’s obvious fit with the course and his record there minus the blowup rounds.
One fortunate pull might be enough though. A major championship win, a millionaire pay day and an extra $300,000 on the side: A day at the office that nobody may ever beat.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Valero Texas Open
GolfWRX is on site this week at the Valero Texas Open.
The event has been around since 1922, making it one of the oldest on the PGA Tour calendar. Over the years, it’s been held at a variety of courses across the Lone Star State, but it’s found its home at TPC San Antonio in recent years. Some of the biggest names in golf have taken home the title here, including Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, and Ben Crenshaw.
GolfWRX has its usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs and special pull-out albums. As always, we’ll continue to update the links below as more photos come in from TPC San Antonio.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Ben Taylor – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Paul Barjon – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Joe Sullivan – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Wilson Furr – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Ben Willman – SoTex PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Jimmy Stanger – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Rickie Fowler – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Harrison Endycott – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Vince Whaley – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Kevin Chappell – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Christian Bezuidenhout – WITB (mini) – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Scott Gutschewski – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
Pullout Albums
- Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Ben Taylor with new Titleist TRS 2 wood – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Swag cover – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Greyson Sigg’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Davis Riley’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Josh Teater’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Hzrdus T1100 is back – – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Mark Hubbard testing ported Titleist irons – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Tyson Alexander testing new Titleist TRS 2 wood – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Hideki Matsuyama’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Cobra putters – 2024 Valero Texas Open
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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Photos from the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
GolfWRX is on site in the Lone Star State this week for the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
General galleries from the putting green and range, WITBs — including Thorbjorn Olesen and Zac Blair — and several pull-out albums await.
As always, we’ll continue to update as more photos flow in. Check out links to all our photos from Houston below.
General Albums
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Monday #1
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Monday #2
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Tuesday #2
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Thorbjorn Olesen – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Ben Silverman – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Jesse Droemer – SoTX PGA Section POY – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- David Lipsky – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Martin Trainer – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Zac Blair – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Jacob Bridgeman – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Trace Crowe – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Daniel Berger – WITB(very mini) – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Chesson Hadley – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Callum McNeill – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Rhein Gibson – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Patrick Fishburn – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Peter Malnati – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Raul Pereda – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Gary Woodland WITB (New driver, iron shafts) – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Padraig Harrington WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
Pullout Albums
- Tom Hoge’s custom Cameron – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Cameron putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Piretti putters – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Ping putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Kevin Dougherty’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Bettinardi putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Cameron putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Erik Barnes testing an all-black Axis1 putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Tony Finau’s new driver shaft – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
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Photos from the 2024 Players Championship
On the heels of Scottie Scheffler’s dominant victory at Bay Hill, the PGA Tour heads a little farther north in Florida to TPC Sawgrass this week for The Players Championship. And of course, GolfWRX is on site to get a look at what the players are playing.
We’ve already spotted a new Titleist mini driver this week, and there’s plenty more.
Check out our photos below!
Pullout Albums
- New Titleist 2 wood – 2024 The Players Championship
- Cam Young testing Titleist’s new 2-wood – 2024 THE PLAYERS Championship
- Hole Nos. 17 and 18 – 2024 THE PLAYERS Championship
- Toulon Small Batch Texas putter – 2024 The Players Championship
- Swag Golf custom headcovers – 2024 The Players Championship
- New Ping PLD staff bags – 2024 The Players Championship
- SuperStroke St. Patrick’s Day putter grip – 2024 The Players Championship
- Taylor Montgomery using PuttView X training goggles – 2024 The Players Championship
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Tony
Jul 28, 2014 at 6:05 pm
Well done Mr. McIlroy!
Pingback: McIlroy’s Dad Wins $171,000 Bet on Son | Spacetimeandi.com
paul
Jul 20, 2014 at 9:15 pm
Maybe I should bet on my kid winning a major in the next 25 years… He is 2 years old and pretty good with a wedge.
MHendon
Jul 20, 2014 at 8:46 pm
Well good for his dad but my guess is he didn’t need it. I’m sure Rory’s already been taking care of dear ol’ dad.