Jelly legs McIlroy walks into storm
Rory McIlroy is in for a wild time at the megabucks Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City.
The Holywood idol, 20, is one of the star attractions at the Gary Player Country Club where 12 players will battle for an €800,000 top prize.
But the event has been thrown into turmoil and left McIlroy, who is complaining of "jelly legs" and flu symptoms, at the centre of an amazing race row.
More than a thousand Sun City resort workers have vowed to disrupt the tournament and blockade the entrance in a row over alleged racist behaviour by two security companies.
The workers want the security companies and the manager of the resort to be fired.
The incident could leave McIlroy and superstars like Masters champion Angel Cabrera, Swedes Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson or US Ryder Cup star Hunter Mahan playing in front of small crowds if a court injunction by the resort does not stop the pickets does not go through.
McIlroy will have no problem teeing it up as he is staying on site.
And he's hoping to get hot in Africa and shrug off last week’s World Cup reverse alongside Graeme McDowell
He can take his season’s earnings to an amazing €5.3 million but after a gruelling run of recent events, he said: “I’ve been on the go for nine weeks now and I think it’s beginning to take its toll.
"I went to the range to hit a few shots today and felt that I’d got ‘jelly legs’ so I retired to my room with various potions from the Doctor to try and shake it off before the tournament begins."
The Ulsterman will go hunting Tiger Woods in the US next year but he'll have to settle for the African wildlife this week.
He explained: "I was having some lunch next to the pool at the hotel and was just looking back up at the hotel and was amazed to see monkeys hopping from balcony to balcony and also jumping around on the roof.
“So it looks like there could be some interesting wildlife around the course as well.”