McIlroy honoured to share ‘Tiger 11’ videogame cover

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy told JOE of his honour in sharing this year’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 videogame cover with the man himself, describing the milestone as “amazing”.

“I think my first Tiger game was PGA Tour 99 maybe and it’s amazing to be on the cover now. I was in the game last year which was very cool but to be alongside the man himself on the cover is a pretty cool feeling,” he told us.

With the latest PGA release focused on the Ryder Cup, developers EA decided to share the cover between regular cover star Tiger Woods and 21-year-old McIlroy.

Asked whether he’s coming to be asked back for the ’12 instalment, a bullish McIlroy replied, “We’ll see if they want to keep me or not. I haven’t talked to Tiger about it. I met him a few times this year, but I think he’s a few more things on his plate at the moment!”

Recalling his introduction to the golf series over a decade ago, Rory reflected that “the graphics and everything have got so much better since the first game in ’99”. I remember the Players Championship last year was at Sawgrass. I’ve played Sawgrass hundreds of times on the game and you sort of go back into it and try and refresh your memory. It can benefit you in ways like that.”

With an accurately digitised representation of himself in-game, we couldn’t help but ask Rory if he ever picks himself out on the virtual golf course. The Holywood native replied, “I like to make my own character and try and beat myself.”

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 is available now for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and iPhone. JOE recently reviewed the Xbox360 version here.