A two-story mural depicting a precocious Rory McIlroy in 2012 has seen such better days that you can barely tell it is the Grand Slam golfer anymore
BELFAST, Northern Ireland – A mural of Shane Lowry winning the 2019 British Open at Royal Portrush is the toast of Portrush this week. The Emerald Isle loves its murals, and once upon a time, another golf star from these shores, none other than Rory McIlroy, received his own star turn.
But when your intrepid reporter paid a visit on Sunday, he discovered the mural in disrepair.
Commissioned by the city of Belfast, the McIlroy artwork joined murals mourning the loss of loved ones in The Troubles. The two-story painting, which is more than 30 feet wide, depicted McIlroy posing in a follow-through, his bushy hair mushrooming out of his ball cap. It was unveiled on June 26, 2012, two days before the start of the Irish Open at Royal Portrush. McIlroy had won the U.S. Open less than 12 months earlier, at 21, becoming the youngest champion since Bobby Jones nine decades earlier.
“It was the intention of the mural of Rory to send out a positive message that if you work hard enough at what you do, you can achieve your goals,” said Declan Boyle, then a Belfast city councilman, who commissioned artist Danny Devenny to paint the work.
The large-scale portrait is in South Belfast's 'Holylands' — the area so-called because its streets are named after places in the Middle Eastern region, and approximately 2 miles southeast of the Peace Walls.
“The McIlroy mural reflects the profound change that Belfast has undergone in recent years. Much of the city’s outdoor art wet up amid the undeclared civil war between (largely Protestant) British Loyalists and (largely Catholic) Irish Republicans,” wrote McIlroy biographer Timothy Gay in Rory Land. “The painting serves as an unwitting testimonial to Ben Hogan and Herbert Warren Wind’s Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, which remains among the best instructional books ever written.”
Located at Rugby and Damascus, the McIlroy mural hasn’t aged well. Only those seeking it out or looking very closely would happen to know what it is, and only a Titleist golf ball, which he hasn’t played in years, gives away that it is a painting of the area's most famous golfer. But after McIlroy’s latest achievement in April, during which he won the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam, the time is ripe to commission Devenny or someone else with his talent to paint a new mural – perhaps depicting McIlroy on his knees in celebration would be the ideal moment.
The original message applies more than ever. Perhaps the first brush strokes will begin next week should McIlroy sketch another masterpiece at the 2025 British Open on home soil.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Eyesore: What has happened to Rory McIlroy's mural in Belfast?
Category: General Sports
