Lord of the Dance
McIlroy embarks on fundraising drive
Sport

McIlroy embarks on fundraising drive

WORLD number one golfer Rory McIlroy has promised that any money he makes from this weekend’s Irish Open will be given to charity including the Cancer Fund for Children at Daisy Lodge.

American businessmen Billy Rosenthal, Fred Carillo and Tom Iovino successfully bid £100,000 to play a round alongside McIlroy yesterday.

“The auction was going way too slowly for my liking, so I put my hand up and said: ‘I’ll pay a hundred grand to play by myself,” McIlroy explained. “So that made them, there was a few billionaires in that room, so that got their hands in their pockets.

“Hopefully I can contribute €420,000 after I win on Sunday,” McIlroy said.

"If I play well, and if I do well in the tournament, then all the money that I earn is going to go towards that, as well. So I'm not really playing for myself this week.

"I'm playing for a lot of other people and it gives me an incentive to go out there and enjoy it to try to play well.”