Sir AP McCoy hails 'global superstar' Rory McIlroy after Irish Open Pro-Am appearance alongside Jimmy Nesbitt and Tommy Bowe

Transcript

00:00So how much did you enjoy that going round Royal Countdown?

00:02Ah sure, look it's beautiful. The last time I played Royal Countdown was with Ricky Fowler

00:06at the Pro-Am at the last Irish Open that was here and the weather was horrific so I didn't

00:10get to appreciate it as much as I should have done but it's beautiful. We're a great company,

00:15two great bros and obviously playing with Jimmy and Tommy, what more could you want?

00:19I think that's how much you enjoy it, playing with Jimmy and Tommy.

00:21Great, I play with Jimmy quite a bit. I stay with him in Portrush a bit so I do,

00:25I've played Royal Portrush quite a few times. I'm playing with Tommy who's a big lad,

00:31gets it out there and doesn't play loads but when he hits it, by god he hits it. It's the

00:35same with all them rugby players, they've got power haven't they? But it was good,

00:39I played okay, finished 18 under, it wasn't too bad.

00:42It looks like you're hitting it very nicely out there, are you a keen golfer?

00:46Yeah I love golf, I'm very lucky, I'm getting to play in Scotland called the Dunhill Links in

00:52a couple of weeks time which is a big thing for amateur golfers so I've got that to look forward

00:56to. Is that what you want to win for us?

01:00Links, golf, can't beat it. So I'm looking forward to it, should be a great crack you know.

01:03It's glorious to have these sort of courses on our doorstep isn't it,

01:05like the best in Northern Ireland isn't it? I mean yeah, I mean it's classic,

01:08how lucky are people to come and get to play here and get to play with the pros that the

01:12lads get to play with, sure it's great, so lucky. And then just one final one, Rory,

01:16obviously he's the big attraction this week, how much admiration do you have for him as a

01:19sportsman and how much has he been doing for Northern Ireland sport over the last 10 years?

01:22Amazing, I think the North of Ireland is very lucky in that we all go through stage when you're

01:28kids that you look at, you know I queued up outside a sports shop to get Pat Jennings to

01:34send a football from when I was a kid, you know what I mean, or you had Barry McGuigan or Dennis

01:38Taylor or Alex Higgins or whoever it was, the amount of really good sports people and Rory is

01:45a global superstar, you know what I mean, and at 35 years of age you can only but admire him but

01:51if someone said to him when he was 12 or 13 or 14 that he's going to be playing golf with

01:55Tiger Woods he'd be best friends with him, you know, so it's amazing how sport can bring you

02:02together and can help you live the dream, can't it, even for him.