Young Northern Irish golfer Tom McKibbin looks set to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious compatriot Rory McIlroy. McIlroy opened new avenues for his fellow Irish golfers when he broke onto the international golfing scene at a very young age. Now, years later, McKibbin is the talk of the town.
The teenager has been in a good form this season and finished 13th at the Alfred Dunhill Championship. McKibbin has shown tremendous potential in the first three events of his 2023 season, posting top-20 finishes in three DP World Tour events.
Tom McKibbin entered the week in the 318th position on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) list. His recent excellent form suggests that it won't be too long before he creates history by becoming only the second golfer to break into the top 300.
McKibbin is a Hollywood native and lives in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, according to his Twitter account. He is a "proud" ambassador of the NI Children's Hospice.
He is sponsored by TaylorMade, Grant IRL, Grant NI, 30 Church Street, Galgorm Resort and Revive Active.
"Pretty happy, I’ve been solid" - Tom McKibbin on Alfred Dunhill Championship performance
Tom McKibbin has shown flashes of his brilliant potential in his performances so far. He proved himself to be a future star to watch out for after recording a 13th place finish at the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
The 19-year-old came so close to equaling the course record set by Scott Jamieson and Ockie Styrdom, which was 63. However, McKibbin lost out on the opportunity by a whisker.
Nevertheless, he was happy with his performance. He spoke to the Irish Golfer about his experience and said:
"Yeah, I’m very happy, six-under was a nice way to finish off the week. Didn’t really have much good stuff the first three days but today was a lot more like it, played pretty nice. As I said before the course is so good and it was nice to shoot a really nice round to finish."
He added a short analysis of how he fared:
"I putted a wee bit better, drove it pretty well, everything was just solid, didn’t make too many errors and holed some nice putts which was the key."
Tom McKibbin had a little rollercoaster ride on the greens for a while and he reflected on the same, saying:
"Yeah, pretty happy, I’ve been solid. The last two weeks I haven’t played great, the first week I was pretty solid but these last two weeks it’s nice to see a few good finishes for not having my best stuff."
McKibbin will be heading to Mauritius next week. He joked that since it was a bit cold at his home, he would be happy to spend another week in the sun:
"Nothing else going on so may as well play. It’s a bit cold at home so I’ll happily take another week in the sun."
McKibbin looks well on his way to live up to the Irish legacy first started by Rory McIlroy, though he is still quite some distance away.