Sarah Stirk Sky Sports Golf presenter reflects on the journeys that shaped her, from discovering golf as an injured teen to playing Augusta National, travelling the world, and finding her favourite courses, cities, and unforgettable travel moments.

When did you first pick up a golf club

I was 17, a tennis player and I had a bad injury. I was studying at Millfield School in the sixth form and my housemaster, Mr Wilson, took me to the driving range one evening, we hit a few balls…I wasn’t addicted straight away, but it got me into the sport, and I started to play more and more.

Little did I know that evening would lead to presenting the biggest tournaments in the game. I currently play off a seven handicap.

What’s your favourite golf resort

There’s so many, I love Harbour Town on Hilton Head Island, playing the 18th with the famous lighthouse, is memorable, it’s also a very playable golf course off the forward tees.

Quinta do Logo is my favourite place to golf, I’ve got a place there, I’ve spent a lot of time there over the past 20 years, I love Portugal the lifestyle, the beaches, and the people.

Old Head in Ireland also needs to get a mention, you can see the sea from every hole and is an experience like no other.

Who would be your ideal holiday golf partners

Rory Mcllroy, I’ve known him for years and would be great to play with him, Taylor Swift, because she’s amazing, funny, and brilliant for what she does for women and very empowering, and finally Michael McIntyre because he would be hilarious to play with, I think the four of us together would have a good crack.

Where did you go for your most recent holiday

The Algarve, I tend to go on short haul holidays, now having a family commitment, my plan is to retire over there.

Best memory in golf

Playing Augusta National, the day after the 2023 Masters, they have the media ballot, with Sky Sports being the rights holder, we get one golden ticket a year to play the course on the Monday, my boss handed me the invitation in an envelope on the Sunday as we went into work.

It was great to play with all the scoreboards up, getting up and down from 100 yards on the 18th for a Par was the highlight of my round, it was an amazing experience and I shot and 96 which I was very happy with using borrowed clubs.

Apart from playing Augusta, other great memories include shooting a 74 at Ruddington Grange Golf Club in Nottingham.

What’s your favourite golf course in the UK

That would be the Queens Course at Gleneagles, my uncle had an apartment next to resort and while I was at university, I did a summer season there… and as a staff member we got to play the courses through twilight rounds, so the Queens Course is where I learnt to play the game and it’s one of the prettiest courses in the UK.

I have a give Sunningdale Old a mention too.

What’s the best hotel you’ve ever stayed in

The Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, I had a private butler service, sound proofed rooms, so you couldn’t hear any noise from the outside, everything about the hotel was exceptional.

It was through a work-based event working on the Gary Player invitational.

What’s your favourite city in the world

That has to be New York, I love the vibe and energy, I think it feels more intimate than London, I stayed with family and friends in Long Island and took myself off into New York for the day, that was my  first proper time travelling on my own.

I love The High Line, which is an elevated freight rail line which was transformed into a public park. I’ve been pre and post 9/11 and seen both the Twin Towers and Ground Zero. The whole city has so many cool areas.

Hosting a Nike event with Rory and Tiger was also memorable, it was at night at Liberty National GC and seeing Manhattan lit up in the distance will long live in the memory.

Most memorable meal

Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck in Bray, it was a bit out there for me but very memorable, the whole meal was pure theatre, taking the lids of the glass bowls and seeing the smoke raising and wearing headphones as you eat, you hear chatter and laughter, waves crashing and seagulls squawking while you‘re eating a seafood course.

My favourite course was the chocolate fondant, that was pure heaven. I would go back there for this dessert alone.

My top travel tip

Is travelling light, I’ve also been so bad at packing, I used to use only a third of the clothes I took on trips, I now only use the cabin suitcase, but it’s taken me years to realise this.

Remember you can also pick up shampoo and toiletries when you get to your destination.

Sarah and Anton Du Beke’s golf podcast, Putt and Strut, is about to launch its second season in 2026 and will be available to download on all major podcast platforms.

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Chinese American artist Hudson Shaoxia Zhang has dedicated one of his newest works to Rory McIlroy, offering the golfer a personal gesture of admiration following the emotionally charged conclusion of this year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

The painting, titled Tribute to Rory McIlroy (Impression of Bethpage Black, Long Island), was begun in June after Zhang visited the iconic course to play a round and observe the future Ryder Cup venue first-hand.

The artwork places Bethpage Black’s notorious bunkers and rugged terrain at the forefront, while tiny dots of spectators animate the distance a deliberate choice, Zhang says, to highlight the grandeur of the landscape while allowing “the noise of human behaviour to fade quietly into the background.”

Although the painting was conceived months before the Ryder Cup, Zhang decided to dedicate the work to McIlroy only after seeing what the golfer and his family endured during the high-intensity weekend.

Moved by McIlroy’s composure amid controversy, Zhang described the dedication as stemming from “deep admiration not only for his extraordinary talent, but for the dignity and grace he showed in a moment that tested the very spirit of the game.”

Zhang has not yet presented the painting to McIlroy, but he hopes the golfer will ultimately accept it. The piece will also appear in Zhang’s forthcoming monograph, Master of Golf Course Landscapes, slated for publication in early 2026.

“It would be a great honour if he might accept this dedication and gift,” Zhang said calling the painting one of his proudest artistic achievements. “While I would treasure it personally, I believe it truly belongs with Rory.” he told Golf News.

Born in 1953, Hudson Shaoxia Zhang has achieved international recognition for his distinctive focus on golf-course landscapes a subject he has explored in more than a thousand works.

His paintings examine these engineered terrains as complex modern environments, blending Western and East Asian visual traditions to contemplate land use, aesthetics, and the intersection of nature and human design.

Zhang’s recent career highlights include four solo exhibitions across London and Europe in 2024 and a major 2023 show at the Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts.

Earlier this year, he was named the inaugural recipient of the U.S. Golf Art Foundation Fellowship Award, honouring his contributions to both art and the culture of golf.

For Zhang, golf courses are not merely recreational venues but endless sources of visual and conceptual inspiration.

His work uses these cultivated landscapes to reflect on contemporary environmental concerns, the tensions between nature and artifice, and the unique beauty of spaces shaped by both engineering and tradition.

With Tribute to Rory McIlroy, Zhang aims to offer not just a landscape painting, but a quiet meditation on what gives golf its enduring significance, something, he suggests, that transcends competition and controversy.

 

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The 36-year-old from Northern Ireland completed the career Grand Slam in April by winning the Masters at Augusta National, becoming just the sixth man, and the first European, to lift all four major championships.

McIlroy joined Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Gary Player in the sport’s most exclusive club, having already captured the US Open, The Open and the US PGA Championship by 2014.

His long wait to add the Green Jacket finally ended 11 years later.

“It’s the year I made my dreams come true,” McIlroy said. “From Augusta to the Ryder Cup and everything in between — it’s the year dreams are made of.”

He went on to play a pivotal role in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory, contributing three-and-a-half points as Luke Donald’s side claimed a first win on US soil since 2012.

OTHER 2025 SUCCESSES

McIlroy also enjoyed success closer to home, lifting the Irish Open for a second time, alongside victories at the Players Championship and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The year was capped by a seventh Race to Dubai title.

Just moments before collecting the sport’s biggest individual honour, McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood were also on stage to receive the Team of the Year award after Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph.

“I have a lot of people to thank — the public, my family, my mum and dad,” McIlroy added. “My wife Erica and my daughter Poppy are my rock. I can’t wait to get home and celebrate with them.”

RARE GOLFER WIN

McIlroy becomes only the third golfer to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year, following Dai Rees in 1957 and Nick Faldo in 1989. He is also the third Northern Irish winner, after Barry McGuigan and Sir AP McCoy.

England rugby star Ellie Kildunne finished second in the public vote, with Formula 1 driver Lando Norris third, while Europe’s Ryder Cup team beat strong competition to land the Team of the Year award.

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Rory McIlroy has won his seventh Race to Dubai title. Read that again. Seven times the best player in Europe. In doing so, he has surpassed the legendary Seve Ballesteros and now stands alone in second place on the all-time list, with only Colin Montgomerie’s fortress of eight titles left to conquer. For those who analyze the probabilities of sporting outcomes on platforms like Lazybuguru, one of  best betting companies out there. Betting on Rory McIlroy to secure the season-long title was statistically safe, yet the emotional texture of his victory was impossible to quantify

The Anatomy of a Bittersweet Sunday

The conclusion of the DP World Tour Championship was pure theater, the kind you can’t script. McIlroy arrived at the 18th tee needing something miraculous to force a playoff against Matt Fitzpatrick, who had posted a flawless, bogey-free 66 to set the clubhouse target at 18-under.

McIlroy delivered. He crushed a drive that seemed to stay in the air for an eternity, stuck a majestic iron shot to 15 feet, and drained the eagle putt. The roar that erupted likely shook the skyscrapers in downtown Dubai. It was vintage Rory: clutch, explosive, brilliant.

However, the playoff was a microcosm of McIlroy’s complex relationship with closing moments in recent years. On the first extra hole, his drive found the creek. A bogey ensued. Matt Fitzpatrick tapped in for par to claim the tournament victory and the massive $3 million winner’s check.

Yet, as the dust settled and the sun dipped below the horizon, the tournament loss faded into the background. The headline was the season-long dominance. By finishing solo second, McIlroy secured the Harry Vardon Trophy for the fourth consecutive year. His earnings for the week—$1.26 million for second place plus the $2 million bonus for winning the Race to Dubai—are substantial, but for a man of McIlroy’s wealth, this was about legacy, not liquidity.

The Seve Connection: More Than Just a Number

The emotional weight of passing Seve Ballesteros cannot be overstated. Seve isn’t just a name in a record book; he is the spirit animal of European golf. He is the reason the Ryder Cup feels the way it does.

In his greenside interview with Tim Barter, McIlroy’s voice cracked, his eyes filling with tears. It was a raw moment of vulnerability.

“It’s amazing,” McIlroy said, taking a deep breath to compose himself. “I had a conversation with his wife, Carmen, before I went out to play today, and she told me how proud he would have been… He means so much to this Tour and to the European Ryder Cup Team. We rally so much around his spirit and his quotes… To equal him last year was cool, but to surpass him this year—yeah, I didn’t get this far in my dreams.”.

This vulnerability highlights the unique culture of the European Tour. It is a circuit built on memory and reverence. By invoking Seve, McIlroy wasn’t just celebrating a stat; he was acknowledging his role as the current custodian of European golf’s soul. He understands that he is carrying the torch that Seve lit.

Chasing Monty: The Final Frontier

The conversation now inevitably shifts to Colin Montgomerie. For two decades, Monty’s record of eight Order of Merit titles (seven of them consecutive from 1993 to 1999) seemed untouchable. It was a record born of a different era, one of sheer, grinding consistency against peers like Faldo, Langer, and Lyle.

All-Time Order of Merit / Race to Dubai Leaders:

McIlroy is 36 years old. He is playing some of the most consistent golf of his life. “I want it, of course I do,” McIlroy admitted regarding Monty’s record. “It seems within touching distance now. I’ve hopefully got a few more good years left in me, and hopefully I can catch him and surpass him.”.

Montgomerie himself has been gracious, thanking McIlroy for highlighting just how difficult that run of eight titles actually was. It creates a fascinating narrative arc for the 2026 season: Can Rory tie the record? Or will the younger generation finally catch up?

The 2025 Season in Review

McIlroy’s 2025 campaign will be remembered as a masterpiece of consistency, despite the major heartbreak at the U.S. Open earlier in the year. He won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (alongside Shane Lowry), and notched consistent top finishes across the globe.

We must also credit the depth of the Tour this year. Marco Penge had a breakout season with three victories, pushing Rory until the very end. Rasmus Hojgaard and Thriston Lawrence also solidified their status as the next generation of contenders.

Ultimately, 2025 reinforced a simple truth: The DP World Tour is Rory McIlroy’s home. It is where he resets, recharges, and reminds the world of his brilliance. As he eyes 2026 and the elusive eighth title, the ghost of Seve smiles, and the shadow of Monty looms large. The chase is on.

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McIlroy covered the three-hole aggregate play-off in one over par, but that was comfortably enough to beat Spaun in a somewhat anticlimactic finish at TPC Sawgrass.

A two-putt birdie on the par-five 16th gave McIlroy a one-shot advantage after Spaun could only make par after finding rough off the tee and a bunker with his approach.

17TH HOLE DRAMA

McIlroy then safely found the green on the treacherous 17th before Spaun, who looked unsure of his club selection in the windy conditions, flew his tee shot over the green into the water.

The resulting triple bogey effectively ended the American’s chances of a second PGA Tour victory, even though McIlroy surprisingly three-putted from 30 feet.

McIlroy also bogeyed the 18th but Spaun still had 10 feet left for his own bogey and did not complete the hole after McIlroy tapped in.

Following his victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, it means McIlroy has won twice on the PGA Tour before the Masters for the first time in his career.

The world number two needs a victory in the year’s first major championship at Augusta National to complete the career grand slam.

McIlroy had started Sunday’s final round four shots behind overnight leader Spaun, but followed a birdie on the first with an eagle from 10 feet on the par-five second after a superb long-iron approach from 230 yards.

He also responded to a bogey on the seventh with a birdie on the eighth and another birdie on the par-five 11th took him to 12 under, a shot ahead of Spaun, before play was suspended due to an approaching storm.

Following a four-hour delay, McIlroy established a three-shot lead after he birdied the 12th as Spaun dropped a shot on the 11th, but the Northern Irishman bogeyed the 14th before Spaun birdied the same hole.

Spaun also birdied the 16th to get back on level terms and almost won the title in regulation as his birdie attempt from 30 feet on the 18th pulled up just three inches short.

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McIlroy made an eagle and five birdies in a superb final round of 66 to finish 21 under par, a shot outside the tournament record set by Brandt Snedeker in 2015.

Playing partner Shane Lowry birdied the 18th to secure outright second on 19 under, with Justin Rose making an eagle on the same hole to share third place with American Lucas Glover.

“Some people would argue the golf courses I have won on are not up to a Pebble Beach or an Augusta, but to win at one of the cathedrals of golf is really, really cool,” McIlroy told CBS.

“I knew today was going to be tough, it was going to be exciting, there were so many guys around the lead and I guess with it being Pebble Beach I had to put that to the back of my mind and go out there and try to shoot a score, which I was able to.

“Really cool to have that walk up 18 and take it all in.

“I said to Harry (Diamond, his caddie) walking up the last, start as you mean to go on.

“I’m just as determined this year in any of the years I’ve been out here on the PGA Tour and to get this win this early it means a great deal and hopefully just keep the momentum going into Torrey Pines in a couple of weeks’ time.”

BACK NINE MASTERCLASS

Starting the day a shot behind Ryder Cup team-mate Sepp Straka, McIlroy birdied the second and seventh to take the outright lead, but bogeyed the next to fall back into a three-way tie on 16 under par.

A birdie on the 10th edged McIlroy back in front and he doubled his lead with another on the 12th before striking the decisive blow on the par-five 14th.

McIlroy took an aggressive line over the corner of the dogleg and followed a 339-yard drive with a mid-iron on to the green, before holing from 25 feet for eagle.

“I’ve hit three really good tee shots up 14, the previous two times this week I didn’t take advantage of them and I was determined to take advantage today,” McIlroy added.

“I hit a perfect seven iron after that drive and to hole a putt like that across the green is a bit of a bonus, but it really gave me a cushion to play the last four holes.

“I was really proud of myself, I made that bogey on the eighth hole and to play the next few the way I did that gave me the cushion for it to be pretty comfortable coming down the last few.”

Overnight leader Straka, who won the American Express on his last start, could only card a closing 72 to finish in a tie for seventh.

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How do sum a season that has seen you enjoy so much success around the world, yet will ultimately be judged by some as simply another year where you failed to add to your tally of major championship wins?

It’s been quite the year, no doubt about it. But you know, I’m super happy with where I am in my career and in my life, and I feel like everything’s worked out the way it was supposed to.
I know how some people are going to view my year – and I view my year similarly in many respects – but at the same time, I still have to remember I won four times and I won my sixth Race to Dubai. I accumulated a lot of big finishes and big performances, and the two guys that had better years than me have had career years.

Xander [Schauffele] won two majors, and Scottie [Scheffler] has won seven times, including The Players Championship, the Masters, and an Olympic gold medal. They are the only two guys this year that I think that have had better years than me, so I have to remind myself that while it wasn’t a great year, it was still a pretty decent one.

Of course, I could be sitting here with a fifth major title, and I am not. So that stings and that’s something that I have to come to terms with, but at the same time I’ve got plenty more opportunities in the future. But I’ve really just tried to focus on the positives this year of consistently performing at the highest level

I’ve prided myself on my consistency throughout my career but especially over the last few years. If I’m not winning, I’m close to winning, in the top five or top 10. Sometimes that can get criticised because people think I don’t win as much as I should, but it’s competitive out here and I feel like I have a pretty good win percentage compared to my peers. It’s been a consistent year and the only thing that’s missing is a couple more wins.

Does each passing year that you don’t win another major make you more determined to prove your critics wrong?
It’s certainly a motivation, but I think I need to find that motivation from within. I’ve never been one to look externally for motivation. Sometimes, but for the most part, I think you need to find it within yourself, that motivation to go on and achieve what you want to.
Ultimately, I just want to be the best golfer that I can be. That’s what I’ve always wanted, and I’ve never knew where that would get me. But it’s got me pretty far. So it seems like a recipe that I should keep going with.
But yeah, I think I do a good job of setting myself goals throughout the year and trying to, I’m much better at setting like little short-term goals and trying to work my way through those, and then hopefully by the end of the year it sort of adds up to something bigger than that.
As long as I’m feeling healthy and feeling like I have the game to compete at the highest level, I’m going to try to get the best out of myself up until the point I feel like I’m to longer good enough to compete at the highest level.

What does it mean to you to win a sixth Race to Dubai title and equal Seve’s record of European Tour money lists?

Yeah, it’s a huge achievement for me personally. It felt like it was on the cards over the last two rounds in Dubai, but it never really hits you until it actually happens.
To win the European points list might not mean that much to anyone else, but it means an awful lot to me, and it’s something I’ve tried to target towards the end of each season.

Just thinking about what Seve meant to the game, to this tour, and to the European Ryder Cup team, gets me very emotional, so to sit alongside him in having won six titles is hard to get my head around.

We sit in the locker room at the Ryder Cup, and the place is just filled with Seve quotes, every wall you look at. We had a changing room last year in Italy with the last shirt he ever wore when he played the Ryder Cup at Oak Hill in 1995. That’s what he means to European golf.

It’s always nice to end the year on a positive note, so I’m glad to have done that by winning the DP World Tour Championship and the Race to Dubai.

Are you now targeting Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight Order of Merit wins?

I think I’ve probably got a good ten years left in me, so as long as the Race to Dubai is happening and there’s an Order of Merit to be competing for, then I’m going to want to win it. So, yeah, I’ll be looking to chase down Monty’s record for sure.
I’ve just won my third in a row, and I’ve really made it a priority of my schedule over the last few years to give myself the best chance coming into the end of the year to win the Race to Dubai. I don’t see that being any different for the foreseeable future.

You’ve played 27 tournaments this year, which is a lot by anyone’s standards, but particularly a top-10 player. What are your plans for 2025 in terms of your schedule?
Yeah, it’s been a very busy year, playing on both tours and trying to build in some rest in between the big events. If I can trim it down to 22 or 23 next season that will be good for me in the long run.
I’ve been on tour for 17 or 18 years, and although I’m not slowing down, I just have to take care of myself and my body a little bit more.

Of course, something will have to give somewhere in the schedule for me to get down to that number, but I’m not going to miss the big tournaments in the Middle East, I’m not going to miss Wentworth, the Irish Open or the Scottish Open. There were a few events I played in America this season that I don’t typically play and I think that’s where I’m going to have to trim it a little bit.

Given all the back and forth that has gone on this year with LIV Golf and the PGA Tour, how do you see things panning out in the months ahead?

I’d like to think that by the end of the year we’ll be a step closer to knowing what the landscape will look like somewhere down the line, but I don’t see anything changing in the immediate future.
I think all the main tours are going to keep trucking along and doing their own thing for a while yet, and I think the best thing we can maybe hope for is a bit of crossover between them, and then maybe while that is happening over that period of time, whether it be one year, two years, three years, just trying to figure out the rest.

I think the hard thing is there are legal precedents that have been set in America and here, and that makes it very difficult. No-one likes to see lawyers getting involved – I certainly don’t – and that’s a big part of the issue. I think there is a willingness from all parties to get some sort of agreement, but you’ve got a tonne of lawyers in the middle of it.

It was reported that you weren’t quite on the same page as Tiger Woods on a number of issues relating to the future direction of the tours and that he voted against you re-joining the PGA Tour’s Policy Board. How are things between you now?

I think friends can have disagreements, or not see things eye to eye on things, and still be friends. There’s no strain there. I think we might see the future of golf a little bit differently, but I don’t think that should place any strain on a relationship or on a friendship.
I’m not on the policy board, but I’m in some way involved in the transaction committee. I don’t have a vote, so I don’t have a meaningful say in what happens in the future.

You’re about to start playing alongside Tiger in the new TGL indoor league in January. How excited are you about that and what do you think fans will make of it?

Golf is so rooted in tradition, and that’s a great thing, but it also important to try to deliver golf to a younger demographic. I’ve always been big on that. I come from a place where golf has always been really accessible, and I’d love to see more kids play the game.

TGL, while rooted in the traditions of the game, is taking a bold step into the increasingly tech-fuelled future of sports. TGL will tap into the appeal of team golf within an exciting, fan-friendly environment, comparable to sitting courtside at an NBA game. I am confident TGL will widen the appeal of golf to younger and more diverse fans and serve as another avenue to introduce people to the game I love.

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