[Dave Ireland]

Meanwhile, in describing a recent visit to Valderrama, there was an appreciation of a long road still to be travelled. "It's such a good golf course, so tight and with the greens so small," he said. "It's very hard to stop the ball on those greens. I thought I was playing really well and I shot 75. That's tough." It seemed natural that it should be followed by one of his regular visits to Bannon. But what new information was he seeking? "Not much really," he replied, with a typical youngster's economy of words. "Michael is my coach and I see him every month to allow him check on basics and fundamentals.

"I've known Michael all my life and from my earliest days at Holywood, he's been very good to me. I wouldn't dream of going to anybody else. I think it's best to stay with the one person and not have different people teaching you too many things." Indeed.

On the weekend before departing for Lytham, he went on a sort of pilgrimage with newly-appointed GUI National Coach, Neil Manchip, Niall Kearney and Darren Crowe. "I wanted to play with them at Royal Co Down," said Manchip, "and we had a match." It was McIlroy's first experience of the blue markers. The result? "Rory and Darren whacked Niall and myself by 5 and 4," said the professional.

By his own admission, Manchip chose his words very carefully when adding: "He amazes me. He knows exactly what he wants to do with every shot. I've never seen anything like him at that age, but then I never saw Sergio Garcia, or Olazabal."

Implicit in the latter observation was that we should be careful to maintain a perspective about precocious skills. But in McIlroy's case, even Manchip acknowledges that it's very difficult.