Asian gold medalist Pranavi Urs lives her fangirl dream, meets golf icon Rory McIlroy

When Pranavi Urs struggled during her pursuit of Asian Games gold, her eyes turned to Rory Mcllroy for inspiration. Her three-stroke cushion at the start of the final round of the 2026 Asian Games disappeared when she triple bogeyed the third hole.

She drew inspiration from McIlroy’s comeback at the 2025 Mastersrecalling how he overcame an early stumble to claim the title. Although she was a little bad at remembering the details, as McIlroy made a double bogey rather than a triple, the episode gave Pranavi the boost she needed.

“I was like, it’s okay,” Pranavi said, referring to her triple bogey moment, as quoted by Olympics.com.

“I remembered what Rory did when he first won the Masters. He started with a three, I think a two or a three.”

“And I thought, if he can win the Masters, you can win the Asian Games. So I think that got me back on track.”

Well, on Wednesday, October 14, she probably got to share that story in person with her idol when she met the golfing icon in Delhi. McIlroy arrived in India for his second visit ahead of Thursday’s DP World India Championship and met Pranavi soon after he arrived in the country.

The two were seen chatting, spending some time on the putting green before walking over to a few holes.

“Rory has been my idol for as long as I can remember. I grew up watching him and watching him more than Tiger (Woods). I like Tiger too but Rory is my hero,” Pranavi told Sportstar.

“I told him about how I felt when I triple bogeyed the last round and he told me about what happened to him at one of the Tour Championships. We talked about how he felt at his first Masters. It was quite motivating,” Pranavi said.

MCLLROY IMPRESSED BY PRANAVI

The golf icon was impressed by the tenacity shown by the Indian prodigy to overcome adversity and win gold at the Asian Games.

“Winning the Asian Games is an amazing achievement. To recover from an early triple bogey and go on to win shows tremendous resilience and character. It was a pleasure to meet her,” said the 37-year-old Irish superstar after meeting the young player from Mysore.

“She’s an amazing young woman. She said she was nervous but she didn’t seem like it and it was great to spend some time with her. She told me she’s playing the Women’s Indian Open at DLF next week.”

“She went through a few holes with us, but then she said she had to go practice. It’s an amazing achievement and I’m glad I had the chance to meet her,” the former world number one added, according to PTI.

Pranavi created history with her Asian Games gold, becoming the first Indian female golfer to top the Games. She also helped the Indian women’s team secure silver in the team event.

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