A few false alarms notwithstanding, the parking space at Holywood Golf Club marked ‘Rory McIlroy’ was still unoccupied last night. The newly-minted Grand Slam-winning golfer touched down in George Best Belfast City Airport on Friday, stepping off his private jet with four-year-old daughter Poppy in his arms after a one-night stopover in London. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW The Masters champion has kept a low profile since, enjoying private time with family and close friends, as an official homecoming remained unconfirmed as of last night. Pic: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images Staff at the golf club where it all began have been ‘flat out’ since Sunday, as members and visitors pop in on the chance they’ll catch a glimpse of golf’s latest legend. Head pro Ciarán Lavery said the days following the 35-year-old’s magnum opus in Augusta have been ‘absolutely crazy’ – even before the Co. Down man had left his Florida base. He said the club has been ‘flooded with visitors’, telling Extra.ie: ‘A lot of guys are coming up to the shop to browse, hoping Rory’s going to walk in. We’ve had phone call after phone call. We had one lad that actually bought a pair of the shoes he was wearing on Sunday and was looking to get them signed.’ Holywood’s juvenile membership is already at full capacity, with a few hundred youngsters dreaming of emulating their local hero. Pic: Simon Bruty/Augusta National/Getty Images But Mr Lavery said the club had ‘loads and loads of inquiry forms left in’ this week, ‘building into quite a large waiting list of juveniles wanting to come on board.’ ‘It’s the Rory factor,’ he said, ‘It’s nuts.’ The Monaghan man compared McIlroy’s feat to the Farney county winning a hypothetical first All-Ireland – ‘multiplied by 10’, saying: ‘Imagine that feeling in Croke Park and magnify it by the world.’ There have been a few false alarms, including a flurry of excitement as some members enthused McIlroy’s private jet was on the way to Ireland. ‘We got up the flight tracker and were thinking: “We might get ready for this here, just in case.” ‘Then, sure it flew straight past us to London, so we got ready for nothing,’ Mr Lavery said. Pic: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images The imminent arrival of a ‘special guest’ during the week got hopes up again, but it turned out to be the Japanese ambassador to Ireland, who is also a ‘massive Rory fan’ according to assistant senior pro Kyle Clarke. Mr Clarke said McIlroy’s win was ‘the biggest moment in sport I’ve ever seen’, adding: ‘It trumps Tiger’s [2019 comeback] win at the Masters pretty well.’ Bridie Sinden, who works in the club, said it was ‘exciting to see a positive focus on Northern Ireland for once’. Ms Sinden ‘grew up in the same friendship circles’ as the golf superstar, and said his peers ‘knew he was going to do something spectacular’. She said: ‘He was always like, “That’s my end goal – getting the Masters.” Ours was like, “Oh, we want a house of our own.” Rory McIlroy with his wife Erica Stoll and daughter Poppy. Pic: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images ‘His was: “I want a Masters. I want all the trophies.”’ The young McIlroy ‘just lived and breathed’ the sport, she added. ‘That was pretty much all he did with any spare time, was practice. Him and his dad.’ Ms Sinden said watching the final round in the clubhouse last Sunday, with people ‘piling in’ as the day wore on, was ‘so tense it almost made you feel sick’. ‘It was touch and go for a bit. It was like, “Oh God, don’t lose your nerve.” When he got it, the noise was spectacular.’ Garth McCullough has been a member of Holywood for 40 years and remembers the junior sensation walking around the course with a golf bag taller than he was. Pic: Simon Bruty/Augusta National/Getty Images ‘My brother-in-law in particular always said to me, “He’s going to be the next Tiger Woods”,’ Mr McCullough told Extra.ie. ‘You don’t know what way kids are going to develop, or what way their heads are going to be turned, but we always knew he was special. ‘We put a wee bet on him when he was 11 or 12 to be the next world number one. Tiger was number one then, and nobody else was jockeying. Then Tiger got injured, and I think somebody was in between Rory. He actually did do it, but it was just too late for the bet to come in.’ The ‘very proud’ clubmate said he has been ‘on that journey with him’ for 15 years. Pic: Michael Reaves/Getty Images ‘My brother-in-law lives in Dubai, and we’d go out and follow him around out there. So when he does it, you feel you have done it. ‘You’ve been with him all that time, praying that he can do it. For him to finally get over the line, I think he’ll just be walking on air now when he goes out to play. What else has he got to prove? Nothing…’ Mr McCullough expects his superstar clubmate to ‘pop in at some point’. ‘He’s probably just having a few wee quiet family parties and stuff like that. Knowing Rory, he’ll just turn up and not say it to anybody. That’s the way he’s done it previously – no big fanfare.’ USA native Marc Scheibe, a member for five years, called the Grand Slam winner ‘a product of this place’, adding: ‘You see in him [qualities of] the people here. ‘It’s just common folk, no frills.’ He praised the ‘very welcoming’ club, overlooking Belfast Lough, and offering beautiful views for players, along with its tricky raised greens. ‘People were saying “you must’ve joined because of Rory,” but they were having a membership drive and it was the cheapest.’