The 21-year-old Ulsterman, whose impish looks belie a steely will, has already chalked up a victory on both the European and the PGA Tour, and was recently part of Europe's winning team at the 2010 Ryder Cup.
As we've been reminded so often of late, golf is a global game, and the talented Mr. Mcilroy, a seasoned world traveler who's strutted his impressive swing in dozens of countries... and on multiple continents... personifies this. He seems to fit in everywhere, and adapt quickly to the cultural nuances of new places.
Now it seems Rory's gone one step further. In anticipation of the upcoming HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship he appears to have been studying more than the desert greens and newly fortified bunkers of the National Course at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
Rors, as he's affectionately known, has actually picked up some Arabic, and he demonstrates it in this video:
The clip is actually part of a contest taking place on the HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship facebook page: for a chance to win a pair of tickets to the 2011 championship you're invited to comment on the video, stating what you think Rory is saying and how you rate his Arabic skills. Some amusing reactions to the bi-lingual boy wonder have already been registered.
The tournament takes place from January 20th - 23rd. With the stellar field and awesome venue it promises to be ultra-exciting. There'll be lots of compelling content on the Facebook page too... so it's well worth liking. You can also follow the tournament... and Rory... on Twitter. Who knows, we may even see him tweeting in Arabic.
(Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images Europe - January 22, 2010)
(Video via the Abu Dhabi Championship Facebook page)
.
ReplyDeletei'm not sure what he said but i hope it isn't "help, i'm being help hostage" because president carter is simply too old to go through that again
although i do hear that the price of oil per barrel is going up, no matter what
it's 1974 all over again - no ?
frankD
ftlauderdale, soFLA
Rory is fun/funny to watch no matter what language he's speaking. ;)
ReplyDeleteRory is definitely one of the most entertaining players around, and I think the way he responded to the Rookie Of The Year controversy was really classy.
ReplyDeleteSome years ago I flirted with the idea of learning Arabic for a job. The State Department advised that in a good program it would take approximately a year of full-time classroom study and a year in-country to get to a level 3 on a 5-point scale in Modern Standard Arabic. Then you'd have to deal with the many dialects... spoke Arabic... which are almost like different languages. I chickened out so have no idea what Rory is saying. :\
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the players will be reunited with their falcons from last year. ;)
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteyes, to be fair, i don't understand his scottish accented english all that well either
frankD
ft lauderdale soFLA