#1404

Rory McIlroy versus the Robot Golf Video is the next in the Every Shot Imaginable Challenge Series

Monday, 1 July 2013

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When Rory McIlroy was eight years of age, he appeared on UTV The Kelly Show and chipped a golf ball into a washing machine. Now aged twenty-four, the two-time U.S. Open Championship winner took on a bigger, but not unrelated, challenge.

This time the World Golf number 2 faced Jeff the Robot, The Golf Laboratory Computer Controlled Hitting Machine.

The aim was to hit golf balls into the various washing machine targets set at different heights and golfing distances, with Jeff the robot trying to heckle McIlroy off each swing as much as possible.

"You know, losing to a robot is a bit like losing to Martin Kaymer', Jeff the robot joked with McIroy about the German golfer and former USPGA Champion", quipped Jeff the Robot.

The robot even joked about McIlroy's recent £160 million golf equipment and apparel endorsement deal with Nike Golf Company by saying after the Irish golfer hit a jackpot machine: 'Boom, the eagle has landed. Is that the same noise you heard when you signed your sportswear contract.'

Jeff heckled McIlroy all the way through the video quotes such as "“Isn’t [the washing machine] cute? And she’s still under warranty.”

McIlroy tried to switch Jeff the Robot off but this back-fired when he grabs what he thinks is the off switch, but he ends up only making the robot uncomfortable with the strange direction this challenge is going.

A light-hearted McIlroy seemed to be enjoying himself, even when the competition went down to the wire. It reaches a climax with a large washing machine target rose up into the sky and McIlroy hitting the jackpot target.

As an advertisement for the game of golf, this highly entertaining video ticks all the right boxes and is certainly appealing to a very wide audience. McIlroy, with his Irish charm, is about as likable a pro golfer as you can hope to find, and the hilarious banter with Jeff the robot is humorous to just about everyone.

That being said, McIlroy was on his best behavior around Jeff the robot, as opposed to recent conduct involving the major golf champion breaking a golf club in the recent 2013 U.S. Open won by English golfer Justin Rose.

The golf video has already gone viral, garnering over a quarter million views, and is a follow-up to The Every Shot Imaginable Challenge series which started back in 2010, when four European Tour golfers Rhys Davies of Wales, England's David Howell, 2014 Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley of Ireland and Germany's Marcel Siem, skimmed a ball across a lake to hit a floating 9-inch gong.

The Every Shot Imaginable YouTube channel, which also features other golf video content from The European Tour has had 13.5 million views. The latest Every Shot Imaginable golf video from Rory McIlroy could well exceed these figures and helps create a golf is cool image to the sport, which makes the game more appealing to people thinking about taking up the game.

We've had very creative content in skimming balls over lakes to gongs; clay pigeon golf shoot-outs; and now within this golf video, a robot and washing machines. It is easy now to see why this is titled, 'The Every Shot Imaginable Challenge' and begs the question, what is going to be next? We look forward to the next issue!