First of all a very Happy New Year to all of you and hope you had a great Christmas, I certainly did! I got home from South Africa on the 23rd December and then it was off to do some serious Christmas shopping in Belfast which was absolutely jammed with people doing their last minute stuff, as was I!

We had Christmas Dinner at Mum and Dad's house which was great, Mum was slightly better after her shoulder problems but me and Dad did the lifting of all the heavy stuff out of the oven!

We went to a few parties on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve and had a few good nights out. Twelve of us had a box at... MORE »

My first visit to South Africa started at the very impressive Leopard Creek Golf Club adjacent to the Kruger Park in the province of Mpumulanga. I played in the Pro-Am with Fabio Capello the England Football Manager - he was a really nice man and good company - his English was better than I expected but his golf was definitely worse than his English! Of course I shared my views with him on the England team but I don't really think my input would help matters!

I went into the Kruger Park to do an interview with Golf Punk Magazine and we had a bit of a Game Drive at the same time and saw Elephant, White Rhino, Giraffe, Zebra, Cape... MORE »

After completing my first year on the European Tour I feel as if I have made a lot of progress in what's been a great learning curve for me. I have learnt a lot of new things, seen a lot of new places and experienced many different cultures. I'm still adjusting to living out of a suitcase and remembering to get my laundry done! I'm really enjoying life on Tour and have played really well in some parts and not so well in others.

I've improved my world ranking position by 160 places, currently being 79th, and finished inside the top 40 of the European Tour Order of Merit. I've really achieved the goals I set for myself at the beginning... MORE »

I know most of you reading this are golf fans but I'm going to start by talking about one of my passions - football.

As a lifelong Manchester United fan, playing with Sir Bobby Charlton at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last week was an unbelievable experience. He was a player at the club before my time but he is still actively involved so he was able to give me a great insight into the current players and how the club works. It was really interesting to hear it all first hand.

He told me that in the old first division when he was a player, on average two players got their legs broken or picked up pretty serious injuries every week... MORE »

It's exactly one year since Rory McIlroy turned professional and signed with International Sports Management and what a year it's been for the Northern Ireland teenager. Here Rory reflects on his first year as a pro.

'If someone had told me a year ago that I'd be in the position I'm in today, I would definitely have taken that. It's been a wonderful first year on the European Tour for me and one I'm sure I'll always remember.

I had a great start to my career, making the cut in my first tournament as a professional at the Quinn Insurance British Masters and then going on to finish third at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. I secured my Tour card in my... MORE »