World Number 1, Rory McIlroy, is back in his home of Northern Ireland this week to tee it up at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. He is coming off a dominant victory at the Wells Fargo Championship, but a missed cut at the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship. Wherever he tees it up though, Rory always draws a crowd and turns heads, but this week at Royal County Down, it might not be for the reason one might expect.
During each round of the Irish Open, McIlroy will lace up a different pair of strikingly unique Nike Lunar Control 3 golf shoes, each designed by a child whose life has been impacted by cancer.
McIlroy, The Rory Foundation and Nike teamed up with the Cancer Fund for Children in Northern Ireland to raise funds and awareness through the kids’ designs. The four colorways that were selected were created by kids on NIKEiD during a weekend at the organization’s log cabin in Newcastle. The designs can be purchased on NIKEiD.com with a portion of the proceeds benefiting The Rory Foundation.
“I’m delighted that the young people associated with the Cancer Fund for Children got to design my shoes,” said McIlroy, whose Foundation was established to give kids support they may need through a variety of children’s charities. “The shoes are really unique with some crazy designs. The Irish Open is going to be a very special event for golf and my Foundation and I am excited to compete in them this week.”
For round 1 on Thursday, Rory will wear 12-year-old Sara Lockhart’s shoe design with a red toe box, purple lining, an orange midsole topline and volt green lacing — one of the most colorful shoes of all the designs. She even did her research before beginning her design!
“I read online that Rory really likes different shades of green so I combined that with some of my favorite colors. I really love art and am so happy my design was chosen,” Sara said.
On Friday for round 2, Rory will wear a gray and green Lunar Control 3 designed by 16-year-old Ryan Keenan. Ryan selected the words, “Go Rory,” for the tongues of the shoes.
“I chose the colors because it is for the Irish Open and they are colors associated with Ireland,” Ryan said. “It will be amazing and really exciting to see Rory wearing shoes I have designed.”
To start the weekend on Saturday for round 3, Rory will wear a blue and white colorway created by 15-year-old Chloe Hyndman. Chloe included “Irish Open” on the tongue of the shoes.
“My design is a combination of what I would wear and what I thought Rory would like,” Chloe said. “I picked black and white to make them look professional, but then added a print to keep them fun and recent. I also added blue to make them more colorful, and to ensure that all eyes will be on Rory on the course!”
On the final round on Sunday, McIlroy will wear a multi-colored version of the shoe created by Alex Kernaghan, 13. The design features yellow, green, white and blue for a unique colorway and definitely the most brightest, most colourful shoe you’ll come across!
“It says ‘Be You’ on my Nike shoes because that’s all you ever should be – yourself. I also added in a bit of blue as it’s my dad’s favorite color and yellow to represent the charity,” Alex said.
The children were presented with their very own pair of Lunar Control 3 shoes complete with their designs, gifts from Nike and The Rory Foundation. This is a great gesture by Rory, his foundation and Nike to raise funds, awareness and support the Cancer Fund for Children in Northern Ireland. Again, the designs can be purchased on NIKEiD.com with a portion of the proceeds benefiting The Rory Foundation.
Source: Nike Inc.
