2009
After finishing second in the UBS Hong Kong Open in November 2008, McIlroy attained his highest world ranking position of 50. He finished the 2008 calendar year at 39th in the world rankings after finishing joint 3rd in the South African Open. This earned him an invitation to the 2009 Masters Tournament. His first professional win came at age 19 when he won the Dubai Desert Classic on 1 February 2009, this win took him to 16th in the world rankings.
In the 2009 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, McIlroy reached the quarterfinals. In the first round he defeated Louis Oosthuizen 2 & 1, in the second round he beat Hunter Mahan 1-up, and in the third round he beat Tim Clark, 4 & 3. He lost to Geoff Ogilvy, who won the tournament, in the quarterfinals 2 & 1. McIlroy continued to play on the PGA Tour until May. He finished tied for 13th at the Honda Classic, tied for 20th at the WGC-CA Championship and tied for 19th at the Shell Houston Open.
In April 2009, McIlroy made his first Masters Tournament appearance, his first major championship as a professional. He finished the tournament tied for 20th place, two strokes under par for the tournament. Of the players to make the cut, McIlroy achieved the third highest average driving distance, beaten only by Dustin Johnson and Andrés Romero. McIlroy played in two more events on the PGA Tour after the Masters Tournament including his first appearance at The Players Championship, where he missed the cut.
McIlroy then returned to Europe and recorded two top-25 finishes leading up to his first U.S. Open. He finished fifth at the BMW PGA Championship and 12th at the European Open. McIlroy played in his second major as a professional at the 2009 U.S. Open. His final round of 68 (−2) helped him finish in a tie for 10th, his first top-10 finish in a major. The following week, McIlroy finished in 15th place at the BMW International Open. McIlroy played in his first Open Championship as a professional in July and finished T-47. He finished T-3 at the 2009 PGA Championship.
McIlroy finished the 2009 season ranked second on the Race to Dubai, behind Lee Westwood, and in November he entered the top 10 of the world rankings for the first time. McIlroy finished 2009 ranked 9th in the world. In November 2009, McIlroy announced that he would join the American-based PGA Tour for the 2010 season.
McIlroy accepted an invitation from Gary Player to participate in the 2009 Nedbank Golf Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City, South Africa in December, but withdrew after feeling unwell.
Read more about this topic: Rory Mc Ilroy, Professional Career