Rory McIlroy has revealed only three people recognised him at a Borussia Dortmund game – and they were from his mum’s hometown.
The golf star took a detour to Deutschland on his way to Dubai for the Desert Classic, ticking off a bucket list dream of catching a clash with Leverkusen at Dortmund’s iconic Westfalenstadion in their notorious stand, considered one of the most fearsome in football. At 328ft long and 131ft high, the Yellow Wall has a capacity to accommodate nearly 25,000 fans and is the largest single-tiered grandstand in the whole of Europe.
However despite being in with over 24,000 people, the four time major champion went almost totally unnoticed. After posting a “scrappy” opening score of 70 in his double defence of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic title, McIlroy explained: “Yeah, it was, right in the yellow wall. The only three people that recognised me were three people from my mum’s hometown, Lurgan. I was like, wow, how are you here?
“I was sitting with a few friends who actually were going to a Dortmund game in September/October time, a Champions League game, and I said, Oh, I’d love to do the yellow wall. I saw that Dortmund were playing Leverkusen last Friday night and I was like, I could tie that in on my way to Dubai.
“It was just fun, something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve heard so much about the Yellow Wall and it was cool to experience it. The atmosphere was just insane, apart from Leverkusen going 2-0 up after five minutes. But it was, it was amazing.” McIlroy will be hoping that the scoreline wasn’t a sign of things to come for him however, as Leverkusen won the match 3-2.