Irish golf ace Rory McIlroy brought his US Open trophy to the one place where it really counts: his old school in Holywood, County Down.

The 22-year-old returned to Sullivan Upper School to cheers and applause as a surprise guest at the end-of-term assembly, delighting the startled students as he appeared on stage.

McIlroy told the students he left the school in 2005 in order to concentrate on his golf.

'A few of the teachers will tell you I probably wasn't the best pupil you've ever seen, but it's good to be back,' he told the crowd, as reported by the BBC.

'It was tough. I was away quite a lot so every time I came back I was always trying to catch up. It was very tough to try to balance everything, but I tried my best.

'All I wanted to do was play golf and I knew by the time I was 15 or 16 that that was the path I was going to take.'
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It was at Sullivan Upper that he met his girlfriend Holly Sweeney.

Speaking about the US Open trophy, McIlroy said: 'I can't really settle on that. I want to go and try to achieve more. The Open championship is coming up in a couple of weeks and I want to do my best to win that.

'It's a big summer ahead. I want to try to give myself the best chance to win the next couple of majors and just try to keep getting better.'

It should be an exciting summer.