The ball Rory McIlroy used when he won the 143rd British Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club was thrown into the gallery after the 72nd hole at Hoylake and thus attracted bids in excess of $5,500 as a consequence, according to The Daily Mail.
The ball was caught by Lee Horner from Leeds, and after finding out this information, auction house Green Jacket jumped did their best to find out what the magic ball was worth.
“When Rory threw the ball, it hit me in the hand and then fell down,’ Horner told ESPN.com. “There was a kerfuffle, but I managed to get it and hold it in the air and the crowd went crazy.”
Horner reportedly didn’t want to shake hands with the Green Jacket, and decided to put the ball up for auction himself, and has received a $ 5,500 bid so far.
McIlory apparently let his hair down after winning the Claret Jug at this year’s British Open. He took the trophy out for a walk on the streets of Belfast, along with his friends, mother and girlfriend. However the man has a good head over his shoulders.
“I think every time you have success, you need to reassess your goals because it’s only halfway, two-thirds through the season,” he said. “And a lot of the goals that I set myself for the start of the year I’ve achieved already. So that’s when you have to reassess and say, ‘OK, you’ve boxed that off. It’s great. Celebrate it for a couple of days.’ But then you’ve got to move on.”