A young Irish golfer had the time of his life as met Rory McIlroy at a promotional event and showed off his skills before a huge media gathering.
Sean Reddy is only eight years old but has already raised plenty of eyebrows with his considerable talent and potential.
The child prodigy, from Cork, travelled to London for the weekend with his father Simon to see a concert by Cork band The Frank and Walters. While they were there they visited Niketown – the huge Nike store in central London – where Sean practised his golf swing in a simulator.
His 140 yard drive caught the eye of some Nike representatives who were suitably impressed. Nike had recently produced an advert that showed how a young Rory McIlroy had been inspired by Tiger Woods.
They believed that in Sean they had found a potential great of the next generation and were keen to show how McIlory was now inspiring the stars of the future.
Sean only started playing golf after he attended the Irish Open in Fota last summer. After seeing McIlroy at the tournament he was inspired to take up golf. He has been getting better ever since.
The executives persuaded Simon and Sean to extend their stay as McIlory would be heading to the store for a promotional event on the Monday.
When it came to the Monday night, Sean shared the limelight at the event with McIlroy and others such as TV soccer pundit Chris Kamara.
Simon said: “It’s been like something from a Disney film. Sean was so calm and collected, there wasn’t a bother on him.”
The world number one was so impressed with Sean’s skills that he asked the youngster for his autograph!
Sean presented McIlroy with a signed golf ball and the Northern Irishman said: “I should keep this, it’s going to be worth a lot of money someday.”
Sean also left with a collection of goodies. McIlroy gave him some signed memorabilia while Nike has arranged to send him a set of custom-made clubs. The golf pro at Fota will also be keeping an eye on him as he develops in the coming years.
Take a look at the video below.
