SUCCESSION obsession is a trait of sporting media the world over. How many times has there been a new Diego Maradona? A new Muhammad Ali? A new Tiger Woods?
Tom McKibbin had both the fortune and the misfortune to come along when the focus on Rory McIlroy, even in the midst of the game’s most high-profile Major drought, has never been so great.
Fortunate because McIlroy has been nothing but good to him, on a personal and professional level. Since first sharing a course 11 years ago, the pair have played countless rounds since, and remain in regular contact.
“Any time Rory and I are in the same area, we try to get a game in,” McKibbin told Golf Digest last year.
“Playing with Rory is a lot more relaxed than you might think. Even when I played with him before the Masters a couple years ago, he was good fun. We chat, he puts on some music, we get a group and play four-ball matches.
“It’s a lot like playing with your friends, except the way he hits the ball is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”
The down side? The relentlessness of the next Rory McIlroy talk. Both from north Down, and products of Holywood Golf Club, it was inevitable, inescapable, as soon as McKibbin’s career started to take off. But it’s been a few years now, and the 21-year-old trajectory is only headed in one direction.
“Yeah, a little bit,” he said when asked if the constant Rory reference points were becoming tiresome, “a little bit annoying now but yeah, it’s a little bit… I obviously hear it nearly every time.
“So it’s a little bit annoying, but it’s not too bad. Obviously chatting about him or things about him means I’m doing something wrong.”
Which, given the huge strides made since turning pro three-and-a-half years ago, becoming Ireland’s youngest winner on the DP World Tour since – well, you can probably guess - is hardly the case.
And this week’s Irish Open at Royal County Down offers a golden opportunity to not only bolster his burgeoning reputation, but to push himself further up the golfing ladder.
Just nine events remain in the DP World Tour season and, currently ranked 17th in the Race to Dubai standings – 12th in the standings for the 10 PGA Tour cards - a remarkably consistent season has left McKibbin on the verge of a spot on the American circuit next year.
“From now until the end of the year, the points have got so much bigger that I think there will be a lot of back and forward between everyone, so obviously you want to push on to the end of the year and try and get one of those spots,” he said.
“If I can just keep playing well until the end of the year and just see where that leaves me… there’s a lot of points up for grabs, and if you can take advantage of those, they are pretty serious.”
If looking that far along the way is a little too much to countenance right now, then next year’s Ryder Cup should be in a different stratosphere.
But McKibbin wouldn’t be human if he didn’t harbour some sort of aspirations towards making a push for a spot on the European team that travels to Bethpage Black in New York.
Less than 12 months away, the qualification process has officially commenced, with European captain Luke Donald among those competing in Newcastle this week.
“I mean, I know that’s why he’s here, and he’s obviously here as well to play. He’s still a very good player and I’ve been lucky to play with him…
“Of course all of these things sort of grab everyone’s attention. But I think once you get out there and you start playing, for me anyway, they quickly go out of my mind. I just go out there and play the golf course and see what’s the lowest score I can shoot.
“I wouldn’t really say I’ve set too many big goals like that; obviously just try and let it happen.”
And McKibbin will do so with a new man on the bag after Ricky McCormick replaced the vastly experienced Dave McNeilly, who previously caddied for the likes of Nick Faldo, Nick Price and Padraig Harrington.
“I just needed to switch it up a little bit.
“Obviously I had been playing well all year but, yeah, I needed something different. And Ricky, I’ve known him for 10, 11, 12 years… he’s someone that knows my game quite well, and he’s caddied for me before.
“Bringing him out here, I’m very comfortable with him, and he does a good job for me. I’m looking forward to spending more weeks with him.”
The Irish Open gives them a chance to cement that relationship further and, at least from a personal perspective, carries a little bit more weight than most as it is taking place just over an hour down the road from McKibbin’s Bangor home.
“It’s a pretty special place,” he smiled.
“I think it’s a golf course that you learn to respect a bit more and appreciate the more you play. The first couple of times I played it, I found it too difficult. I didn’t really enjoy it that much.
“But as I got better and played it more, I’ve come to appreciate it a lot more… it will be a very difficult test out there.”
“It would mean a lot [to win]. I think it would mean a lot no matter where it was, but here at County Down would be even more special just because of the prestigiousness of the course and how special it is.
“It would probably be the biggest achievement of my career, and it would probably stay there forever… it would be pretty cool.”
