Rory McIlroy has endured a turbulent year on and off the golf course but he has a solid group of childhood friends, dubbed the ‘Mac Pack’, to keep him grounded.
The gang got together for a glamorous wedding earlier this year at a tough time for McIlroy, who filed for divorce from long-term partner Erica Stoll before they subsequently got back together.
All six members of McIlroy’s tight-knit friendship group hail from in or around Holywood, County Down in Northern Ireland. One of them, Mitchell Tweedie, tied the knot in Italy back in the spring and four-time major champion McIlroy was in attendance.
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Many of the golfer’s close friends are associated with the sport in one way or another, and Tweedie works as a golf agent for JMC Sport LLC.
The Daily Mail claim that Ricky McCormick, another member of the clan, is a coach at the Holywood golf club, where brothers Harry and Dan Diamond are both members and high-level players.
Older brother Harry has been McIlroy’s caddie since 2017, when the Northern Irishman parted ways with JP Fitzgerald. And McIlroy's success on the course has not just made Diamond a millionaire, but one of the richest caddies on the planet with an estimated net worth of around £11.5million.
The bonds between the pair run deep. Diamond was McIlroy’s best man when he married Stoll seven years ago and he is believed to have rallied around his friend, along with other members of the ‘Mac Pack’, when his relationship hit rocky ground.
McIlroy’s jet-setting lifestyle and primary residence in Florida means that opportunities to link up with his group of long-term friends are limited. Weddings are evidently a popular occasion on which to reunite, as they are thought to have attended the ceremony of the sixth member, Steven Davidson, in 2017.
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Much of this season has been a case of so near, yet so far for McIlroy as he narrowly missed out on the chance to end his decade-long major drought thanks to a late collapse at the US Open.
The 35-year-old went on to lose in a play-off against Billy Horschel at the BMW PGA Championship and finish one shot behind eventual winner Rasmus Hojgaard, who came from miles back in the final round, at the Irish Open.
