RORY McILROY admitted he struggles to cope with his celebrity status — after being named as Britain’s most famous sportsperson.
Northern Ireland’s four-time Major champion was the top Brit in a poll of the world’s most recognised sports stars, conducted by American network ESPN.
Golfer McIlroy was 15th, four places ahead of Real Madrid and Wales footballer Gareth Bale.
England legend Wayne Rooney was the only other UK star in the top 50 at 26th. The poll was topped by Cristiano Ronaldo, Bale’s Real team-mate.
McIlroy — whose £110million fortune saw him ranked No 1 on the Sunday Times Rich List for under-30s — gave the impression he would have been happy to be overlooked.
The 29-year-old, speaking at Wentworth before today’s first round of the BMW PGA Championship, said: “Being famous is probably something I’ve just grown to accept.
“As a kid, I dreamed of being a great golfer — I never dreamed of the other stuff.
“I never wanted to be famous. I wanted to be known for my golf and that was it.
“I just try to live my life the way I normally would but the worst part is everyone knows what you do 24 hours of the day. You can’t really get away from it too much.
“That’s why I’ve tried to withdraw from social media a little bit and keep a little bit of my life more private.
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“As I’ve got older, I’ve started to value that part of my life a bit more.
“But the positive side is you get to meet some pretty cool people — like being able to play with some of my childhood heroes, like Paul Scholes and Teddy Sheringham in the Pro-Am here.
“I remember being in Holywood Golf Club as a kid watching Manchester United beat Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final on TV, so doing that sort of stuff in Pro-Ams, that’s really cool.”
McIlroy said there was plenty of talk among his Pro-Am partners about the health of Sir Alex Ferguson following the former United manager’s brain haemorrhage.
He revealed: “He is doing much better.
“They were quite upbeat about it — Scholesy was saying he was probably telling the doctors what to do!”
Since winning the last of his Majors at the 2014 USPGA Championship, McIlroy has unfortunately become famous for failing to complete the career Grand Slam by adding The Masters to his haul.
His latest Augusta flop in April saw him fall away on the last day with a 74 as Patrick Reed closed out victory.
And McIlroy admitted: “Look, it didn’t happen but I’ve got three more to go this year. And if I could add to my tally this year, that Sunday afternoon at Augusta would be long forgotten.”
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