Like something out of a Hollywood movie, it’s been revealed that when he was nine years old, No. 1 golfer Rory McIlroy wrote a letter to then No. 1 Tiger Woods with a simple message, “I’m coming to get you.”
The story of the letter, pieced together by several of McIlroy’s relatives, came out in conjunction with his 26th birthday on Monday. Sixteen years ago in 1999, Woods was his third full season as a pro and had taken the reigns as the de facto No. 1 player in the world, a position he would hold for an astonishing 264 straight weeks.
Although Woods never received the letter, the bravado of young McIlroy’s message read: “I’m coming to get you. This is the beginning. Watch this space.”
Challenging his absolute idol was nothing less than a front-runner of the type of competitor McIlroy would become and remains. He has a way to go in actually coming for Tiger in terms of career marks – he trails in Majors 14-4 and in weeks at No. 1 683-79, but there’s no doubting the remarkable foresight shown.
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