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Rory gives us the green light for ‘Ole, Ole, Ole’ at the Rio Olympics

Sorted! Rory McIlroy has declared for Ireland ahead of the Rio Olympics. What more could you ask?

Who wouldn’t want the guy who plays Dec to Tiger Woods’ Ant on their team? Even those who sneer at golf as a kind of Purgatory for people in silly trousers are singing a different tune today. Rory brings the Ole Ole Ole’ factor.

The return of golf as an Olympic discipline, after a gap of 112 years, didn’t automatically ensure Rory’s wearing of the green. A Northern Irishman, he’s acutely sensitive to the feelings of all communities on the island.

Used to playing shots in tricky situations, Rory sidestepped sectarian controversy when he announced in China in late 2011: “It’s hard because I’m Irish but also Northern Irish and whatever you want to call me, but I have no real strong allegiances to any flag or nation.”

Rory’s initial response seemed sensible. A global superstar, the 22-year old had more to contend with than your average sportsperson.

His every shot was scrutinised.

Every facial twitch, from smile to grimace, became the subject of outlandish pronouncements, harsh judgements and doolally opinion by legions of pundits. If anyone knew what golf might feel like in a goldfish bowl, it was Rory.

His romance with tennis star Caroline Wozniacki fuelled a celebrity machine that’s insatiably voracious.

Rory’s not alone. In April, Lee Westwood blasted social media trolls, saying: “There are some truly horrible out there. Sometimes you’ve just had enough of the vile insults.”

Rory’s career and business decisions were also under the spotlight.

Changes of agents, contractual disputes and his $250m deal with Nike were well ventilated in the media and also clubhouses and bars across the planet.

McIlroy’s reticence might have suggested he didn’t know his niblick from his rutting iron, but his world is different from ours.

Now 25, he’s lived his life through golf. After all, this is a guy who won the World Junior Championship in Florida when he was nine.

He was a prodigy. And, having seen the sorry fate that befell prodigies in other sports and professions, we knew enough to cut Rory some slack. The pressure on his young shoulders must have been relentless.

The question of who to represent in Rio was a concern.

“I just think being from where we’re from, we’re placed in a very difficult position,” he said last year.

UPSET

“Play for one side or the other or not play at all because I upset too many people, these are my three options.”

In 1972, Rory’s great uncle Joe was killed by the UVF. For a guy who just wants to excel at playing golf, these questions must have felt like impossible riddles.

But it’s a mark of his character how Rory doesn’t shirk making tough decisions, be they personal or public. Announcing that, “for me it’s the right decision to play for Ireland”, McIlroy underlined his reasoning with solid logical foundations.

Rugby, cricket and hockey all treat Ireland as one in sport. Why not golf?

It won’t be the first time he’s played for Team Ireland. He’s been doing that since he was a kid. But this time it’ll be an Olympic gold medal that’s the prize.

Rory McIlroy has given Ireland another chance of being declared Olympic champions. If, as he added, “I qualify for the team”.

And just when we thought golf couldn’t become any more popular in this country.

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