Golf star adds sparkle to sisters’ New York visit

When Mullingar sisters Regina Healy and Enda Cavanagh went to New York last week to visit Regina’s daughter, Laura, they little expected to find themselves rubbing shoulders with world-renowned golfer, Rory McIlroy.

That, however was what wound up happening, purely by chance.

“Laura booked us a table in the ‘Le Café Louis Vuitton’ restaurant, last Tuesday (June 17),” says Regina.

Close to the end of their meal, Laura left the table briefly to visit the ladies, and on her way, she nodded at someone she thought she knew, although she wasn’t immediately able to place the face. Seconds later, she realised excitedly who it was: “When she came back she said to us: ‘you’ll never guess who is at the next table!’.”

That the answer was Rory McIlroy was a delight to Regina and Enda, both passionate golfers and longtime members of Mullingar Golf Club.

Rory was in the company of two other men, one of whom turned out to be his manager, Sean O’Flaherty, and the Mullingar party waited until they had finished dining before approaching him.

“I said: ‘I just want to congratulate you on your Masters win’,” she says, going on to tell him that they were from Mullingar.

Rory has a connection with Mullingar Golf Club: he won the Mullingar Scratch Cup there in 2006, as a 17-year-old, and he recalled that event while chatting with the three women. They were chatting for around five minutes: “He was very gracious,” says Regina.

During the course of the conversation, it turned out that Laura knew manager Sean O’Flaherty’s sister.

It was Sean who volunteered to take a photo, and Rory happily posed with the group.

While it was a special moment, for Regina the real highlight of the trip was catching up with her daughter and her four New Yorker grandchildren, Luca, Matilda, Finn and Danny.