Rory McIlroy chokes back tears as he pays tribute to caddie Harry Diamond

Rory McIlroy kept his emotions largely in check when he met the media shortly after making golf history with his Masters win.

That is, until, he was asked about his caddie Harry Diamond.

McIlroy and Diamond grew up playing golf together at Holywood Golf Club on the outskirts of Belfast.

After the now five-time major winner decided to part ways with long-time looper JP Fitzgerald in 2017, he turned to Diamond to take over – a move that was, and continued to be, widely condemned by fans and industry figures alike.

Diamond, indeed, has been subjected to repeated criticism for being too quiet in major moments over the eight years they’ve worked together and, despite helping the latest member of the career grand slam club win countless times on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and in the Ryder Cup, his lack of major success was routinely used against him.

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Well, not any more.

McIlroy fought back tears when he was asked what it felt like to have Diamond standing alongside him as he fulfilled his lifetime ambition of winning The Masters.

“I’ve known Harry since I was seven years old,” said the Irishman, tearing up. “I met him on the putting green at Holywood Golf Club. We’ve had so many good times together. He’s been like a big brother to me the whole way through my life.

“To be able to share this with him after all the close calls that we’ve had, all the crap that he’s had to take from people that don’t know anything about the game, yeah, this one is just as much his as it is mine.

“He’s a massive part of what I do, and I couldn’t think of anyone better to share it with than him.”

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McIlroy also detailed the critical role Diamond played in helping him to reset and refocus after he missed a putt on 18 to win the tournament in regulation.

“After scoring, Harry and I were walking to the golf cart to bring us back to the 18th tee, and he said to me, ‘Well pal, we would have taken this on Monday morning,” he revealed.

“I’m like, ‘Yeah, absolutely we would have.’ That was an easy reset. He basically said to me, look, you would have given your right arm to be in a playoff at the start of the week. So that sort of reframed it a little bit for me.

“I just kept telling myself, just make the same swing you made in regulation. I hit a great drive up there, and the rest is history.”

Michael McEwan is bunkered's Head of Content and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Head of Content