He is only 20, but Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy has already created enough memories to last a couple of lifetimes. And one of his sweetest is being part of that nerve-jangling play-off that decided last year's Hong Kong Open.
'I didn't walk off feeling disappointed knowing I had lost. I was just glad to have been in a play-off like that,' McIlroy recollected this week as he prepares to return to the Hong Kong Golf Club, one of his favourite courses in the world, for next month's UBS Hong Kong Open.
More than 17,000 fans were held spellbound last November as McIlroy went head to head with Taiwanese Lin Wen-tang and Francesco Molinari of Italy in a three-way play-off to decide who would be crowned champion.
It is still vivid in McIlroy's mind, almost as if it had taken place yesterday.
'It was getting dark, the cameras were flashing and the shots were unbelievable,' McIlroy reminisced. 'I played one of the best shots in my career at the second play-off hole, but I had to blame myself for being in that position because my tee shot hadn't been great.'
McIlroy was fighting to stay in contention with Lin, after the Italian had dropped out after the first play-off hole. But first Lin had to pull off his own miraculous shot, the best seen in the 50-year history of the tournament, at the first play-off hole after he hooked his tee-shot into a grove of trees lining the par-four 18th fairway.
