Rory McIlroy
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48 free Rory McIlroy trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Rory McIlroy hit 40-yard drives at three, chipped balls into his mother's washing machine, and told the BBC at nine that he wanted all four majors. His father worked 100-hour weeks to pay for it. By 25 he had four majors, including a record-shattering U.S. Open at Congressional and an eight-shot PGA at Kiawah; eleven years later he finally won the Masters in a playoff to become the first European to complete the career grand slam, then defended it. This quiz covers the whole story: Holywood Golf Club, Michael Bannon, the Carnoustie silver medal, the Dubai win at 19, Quail Hollow at 20, the 2011 Augusta 80, the Medinah police escort, the Nike and TaylorMade deals, Harry Diamond, the FedEx Cups, the Players titles, the football ankle, the Olympics, the LIV battles, Bethpage, the 2024 U.S. Open putts, Justin Rose in 2025 and the six-shot lead in 2026. Fifty questions with four options each and a short explanation after every answer. Play on your phone or print it for the 19th hole.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which County Down town was Rory McIlroy born and raised?
Holywood
Holywood, pronounced like Hollywood, is also where he went to school: he left Sullivan Upper in 2005, just before his exams, to concentrate on golf.
Q 02Into which household appliance did the young McIlroy practise chipping golf balls?
The washing machine
The washing machine sat at the end of a long hallway, and he chipped balls into it through the open front door; by nine he was good enough to win the world under-10 title in Miami.
Q 03Which job did McIlroy's father Gerry work in two places to fund his son's golf?
Barman
Barman: Gerry worked behind two bars while Rosie did night shifts at a 3M factory in Bangor, sacrifices their son says he will never forget.
Q 04Which coach has worked with McIlroy since his boyhood at his home club?
Michael Bannon
Michael Bannon first coached him at the age of eight, and in 2012 gave up his own job as a club professional to work with McIlroy full-time.
Q 05Which Northern Irish Ryder Cup golfer became a mentor to the young McIlroy?
Darren Clarke
Darren Clarke spotted his ball-striking at ten and advised him from his early teens; it was Clarke who talked him out of taking up a golf scholarship at a college in Tennessee.
Q 06With which Irish friend did McIlroy win the PGA Tour's team event, the Zurich Classic, in 2024?
Shane Lowry
Shane Lowry holed the birdie putt on the 72nd hole that forced a playoff, and the pair won it with a par for McIlroy's 25th PGA Tour title.
Q 07At which links did the 16-year-old McIlroy shoot a course-record 61 in 2005?
Royal Portrush
Royal Portrush's Dunluce course gave up nine birdies and an eagle that day, beating the old record by three shots; because the links has since been altered, his 61 can never be bettered.
Q 08McIlroy won the silver medal as low amateur at which 2007 Open Championship venue?
Carnoustie
Carnoustie was his first major: the 18-year-old amateur opened with the only bogey-free round of the day, a 68 that beat Tiger Woods by a shot, and seven years later he owned the Claret Jug too.
Q 09McIlroy's first professional win, at 19 in February 2009, came at which event?
Dubai Desert Classic
The Dubai Desert Classic win came five months after he had thrown away a four-shot lead in Switzerland, missing an 18-inch putt in the playoff; in Dubai he held on by a single shot.
Q 10McIlroy's first PGA Tour win came with a course-record 62 at which course in May 2010?
Quail Hollow
Quail Hollow nearly sent him home early: he scraped through the cut right on the limit, then closed with that 62 to beat Phil Mickelson by four, two days before he turned 21.
Q 11McIlroy led the 2011 Masters by four before a closing 80; who won instead?
Charl Schwartzel
Charl Schwartzel birdied the last four holes to win, while McIlroy's lead dissolved at the 10th, where his drive ricocheted off a tree to finish between the cabins and cost him a triple bogey.
Q 12McIlroy won his first major, the 2011 U.S. Open, at which course?
Congressional
Congressional saw him lead after every round and finish a record 16 under par, just two months after he had thrown away the Masters on the final day.
Q 13In 2023 McIlroy said that if LIV Golf were "the last place to play golf on Earth", he would do what?
Retire from the game
Q 21What caused McIlroy to miss the 2015 Open as defending champion?
An ankle injury from football
An ankle injury from football: he ruptured a ligament in a kickabout with friends less than two weeks before the Open at St Andrews, and later vowed to stop doing "silly things" in mid-season.
Q 22Why did McIlroy withdraw from the 2016 Rio Olympics?
The Zika virus
The Zika virus was a low risk, he said, but one he was unwilling to take; he added that he would not even watch the golf, later admitted he had been wrong, and played for Ireland in Tokyo.
Q 23McIlroy donated the €666,000 cheque from which 2016 win to charity?
Irish Open
Retire from the game was his answer in July 2023, a month after he had called himself a "sacrificial lamb" in the fight with the Saudi-backed league; by 2024 he admitted he had been "a little judgmental" of those who joined.
Q 14Which Australian, also a runner-up at that year's Masters, finished second to McIlroy at the 2011 U.S. Open?
Jason Day
Jason Day, then 23, finished second in both of 2011's first two majors and had to wait four more years for his own, the 2015 PGA Championship.
Q 15Winning which event in March 2012 took McIlroy to world number one for the first time?
Honda Classic
The Honda Classic made him world number one because he held off Tiger Woods, whose closing 62 fell two shots short; only Woods himself had reached the top at a younger age.
Q 16On which course did McIlroy win the 2012 PGA Championship by a record eight shots?
Kiawah Island
Kiawah Island's Ocean Course made him wait: a storm stopped Saturday's play, so he finished with a 27-hole Sunday and birdied the last to win by one more than Jack Nicklaus's old record margin.
Q 17How did McIlroy get to the course in time for his Sunday singles at the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah?
A police escort
A police escort was needed because he took a tee time listed in Eastern time, an hour ahead of Chicago, for the local one; an officer drove him to the course with minutes to spare, and he won his match.
Q 18McIlroy's 2013 slump followed a lucrative equipment deal with which company?
Nike
Nike unveiled him in January 2013 on a ten-year contract reported at up to $250 million; within four years the company had stopped making clubs and balls altogether.
Q 19At which course did McIlroy win the 2014 Open Championship wire-to-wire?
Royal Liverpool
Royal Liverpool, at Hoylake, gave him the third leg of the career grand slam at 25 after he led alone at the end of every round; the fourth leg, the Masters, then took him eleven more years.
Q 20Which course hosted McIlroy's fourth major, the 2014 PGA Championship?
Valhalla
Valhalla staged a finish in near darkness after a two-hour rain delay; McIlroy, three behind at one point, parred the last in the gloom to beat Phil Mickelson by a shot.
The Irish Open was hosted that year by his own Rory Foundation, so after winning at the K Club he gave the whole first prize to its chosen charities.
Q 24Whom did McIlroy hire as caddie in 2017 after parting with JP Fitzgerald?
Harry Diamond
Harry Diamond, a friend since childhood and once a top Irish amateur, was hired on a short trial and kept the job, though McIlroy said he had been "inundated" with approaches from other caddies.
Q 25McIlroy signed a 10-year, $100 million equipment deal in 2017 with which company?
TaylorMade
TaylorMade won his signature after he had spent months testing rivals' clubs, his previous supplier having quit the equipment business; the deal covered clubs, ball and bag for a decade.
Q 26McIlroy's 2019 win in which national open completed his career 'Triple Crown' alongside the Open and U.S. Open?
The Canadian Open
The Canadian Open, first played in 1904, ranks with the Open and the U.S. Open as the PGA Tour's three oldest events; he won it at his first attempt with a closing 61 and became the sixth player to hold all three.
Q 27Which title earned McIlroy a $15 million bonus in 2019, then the largest payout in golf?
The FedEx Cup
The FedEx Cup that year used a new handicap start that left him five shots behind the top seed before a ball was hit; he won by four anyway, and in 2022 became the first to take the title three times.
Q 28McIlroy's production company Firethorn, launched in 2025, is named after a hole at which course?
Augusta National
Augusta National's par-five 15th hole is nicknamed Firethorn; he set the company up in December 2025, eight months after winning the Masters there to complete the career grand slam.
Q 29Which LIV golfer served McIlroy with a subpoena on Christmas Eve 2022?
Patrick Reed
Patrick Reed had the court papers delivered to McIlroy's Florida home; a month later McIlroy blanked him on the Dubai range, then birdied the last two holes to beat him by a shot.
Q 30Which American did McIlroy beat in the singles at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome?
Sam Burns
Sam Burns lost 3 and 1, a day after McIlroy's angry confrontation with an American caddie at the end of Saturday's play; the win gave McIlroy four points from five matches as Europe regained the cup.