Golf star McIlroy talks Tiger, beer, what's in his iPod
By the CNN Wire Staff
July 1, 2011 -- Updated 0631 GMT (1431 HKT)
(CNN) -- Cockiness and swagger serve him on the golf course, but there's much more to golf's young phenom, Rory McIlroy.
The U.S. Open winner might hang with tennis great Rafael Nadal, knock back some Heinekens or slip the electronic dance sounds of Swedish House Mafia into his iPod.
Such tidbits are rolling out these days from the 22-year-old hero of Holywood, Northern Ireland, who won the tournament by eight strokes and instantly drew comparisons to Tiger Woods.
"I didn't realize how much my life would change, even in the last 10 days," McIlroy said on "Piers Morgan Tonight," aired Thursday.
As Woods has done over the years, McIlroy simply left the competition in the dust. He was the youngest winner of the tournament since the legendary Bobby Jones in 1923.
For someone under a spotlight these days, the athlete with a tousle of hair looked at ease during his interview with Morgan.
"To me, I won a golf tournament and that was the end of it," McIlroy said. But it really is bigger than that."
He paid tribute to his parents, who both worked when he grew up. His father, Gerry, held down three jobs and was a "calming influence" during the U.S. Open, said McIlroy, an only child.
The U.S. Open gave the golfer a shot of redemption after his final-round meltdown at the Masters in April.
"If anything it made me more determined to prove to people and myself that I wasn't ... a choker," McIlroy said.
While saying he was inspired by Woods, McIlroy isn't one to compare himself.
But he doesn't feel intimidated, either.
"I don't want to feel inferior to any other golfer in the world," he told Morgan. "If you do that, you give them an advantage from the start."
While the young McIlroy has one major championship, Woods has 14, including three U.S. Open wins. Woods, 35, has had no PGA wins since taking a brief leave from the game in late 2009 after admitting infidelity.
Life on the tour can bring its own problems, McIlroy conceded.
"You need a good team around you to keep you grounded."
McIlroy, who plays in the British Open next month, said he and girlfriend Holly Sweeney are a "normal couple." They have two dogs and she is completing her university degree.
A fan of boxing and soccer, McIlroy said he doesn't want the flash of fame to affect him.
After all, there are more tournaments to win.
"I'm very confident in my own abilities. I believe in myself," McIlroy said. "I'm not playing for money. I'm playing for a place in history."
Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)
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