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There was plenty of evidence that suggested Rory McIlroy was poised to take the golf world by storm when he turned pro at the age of 18 in 2007, as he was one of the top amateur players in the world thanks to his ability to repeatedly hold his own at a number of elite competitions before he was old enough to legally order a beer.
By the time 2009 rolled around, the Northern Irishman had cracked the Top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings and found himself occupying the 16th spot after securing the first victory of his professional career at the Dubai Desert Classic that year.
In 2011, he earned his first major victory with a decisive eight-stroke win at The U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club. His second came at the PGA Championship in 2012, which he would win again in 2014 at the age of 25—less than a month after he added the Claret Jug to his trophy case by topping the field at The British Open.
His win at the tournament officially known as “The Open” wasn’t necessarily a huge surprise based on the talent he’d shown he’d possessed in the years leading up to it.
His ability to deploy those skills while conquering Royal Liverpool Golf Club allowed him to walk away with the £975,000 reserved for the winner, but he wasn’t the only member of the McIlroy family to secure a solid payday, as his dad also took home a very hefty sum thanks to a bold (and, in hindsight, incredibly smart) wager he made when his son was still a teenager.
How Rory McIlroy’s dad won a ton of money with a longshot bet on his son to win The British Open
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There isn’t a single soul on the planet who’s more familiar with Rory McIlroy’s game than his father Gerry, a scratch golfer who played an instrumental role in exposing his son to the game and fostering the skills he honed at Holywood Golf Club, the local course the future PGA Tour star (and Greg Norman’s eventual blood enemy) joined at the ripe young age of seven.
Gerry had no doubts Rory had what it took to compete with the best players in the world by the time he was a teenager, and while plenty of people who’ve raised famous athletes have fantasized about getting a piece of the pie when they start raking in the dough, the elder McIlroy dreamed up a pretty unique approach in the hopes of cashing in.
Rory was 15 years old in 2005, which is when Gerry contacted a Ladbrokes sportsbook with a “special odds request” concerning a bet that would pay out if Rory was able to win The British Open between that point and 2015.
According to ESPN, they gave him 500-1 on that wager, and Gerry quickly threw down £200 (a couple of his friends got in on the action by getting the same bet at 250-1 in addition to another tied to him winning The Open before he turned 50 that was listed at 150-1).
Rory was 17 when he was invited to participate in The British Open for the first time in 2007, and while no one expected him to win, he showed plenty of promise over the course of four days where he finished in a tie for 42nd at +5 and secured the Silver Medal reserved for the top amateur.
His next appearance (and first as a pro) came at Turnberry in 2009, although he failed to improve on his previous showing after tying for 47th. However, you have to imagine the folks at Ladbrokes started sweating a bit when he ended up tied for 3rd place at St. Andrews the following year.
It was all downhill from there over the next few years, but after missing the cut at Muirfield in 2013, he returned with a vengeance at Royal Liverpool with the two-stroke win that allowed his dad to cash out with a year to spare.
The victory meant Gerry was able to take home a cool £100,000 (around $171,000 at the time), while his two buddies took home the combined equivalent of $136,700 for getting in on Rory’s ground floor.
That’s a pretty solid return on your investment.