Rory McIlroy speaks to the media ahead of The 152nd Open Championship. | Photo by Oisin Keniry/R&A via Getty Images
Rory McIlroy explained how he ‘blanked’ Tiger Woods, who offered him a sincere message after last month’s close call at Pinehurst.
Rory McIlroy’s U.S. Open collapse has been well-documented over the past month.
The inexplicable short miss on 16, his failure to get up and down on 18, the bad break on the par-5 5th, and the misfire on the par-3 15th will all live in infamy forever, as it kept McIlroy’s 10-year major drought intact. He came up just short of Bryson DeChambeau, who made a miraculous par save on the 18th hole in the group behind McIlroy to win by one. As a result, McIlroy left Pinehurst No. 2 abruptly, spoke to nobody, and got airborne as quickly as possible.
In the following days, McIlroy took a trip to Manhattan, where he collected his thoughts and wandered along The High Line with his AirPods in his ears. A few recognized him, though most did not. But he then decided to change his phone number to further distance himself from the fray, which led to a funny circumstance with Tiger Woods.
Woods, a mentor and close friend of McIlroy’s, watched the 2024 U.S. Open unfold just like everyone else. But sensing the tense, raw emotion of the moment, Woods decided to wait a week before reaching out to McIlroy.
“I wanted to let it calm down,” Woods explained Tuesday ahead of The Open.
Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour via Getty Images
Tiger Woods speaks to the media.
“I know he was being besieged by a lot of different things going on, and just let it cool down for a week. Then I sent him a nice text, and that’s it.”
As for what that text read:
“Just basically, I’m your friend. I know this is a difficult moment. We’ve all been there as champions. We all lose,” Woods said.
“Unfortunately, it just happened, and the raw emotion of it, it’s still there, and it’s going to be there for some time. The faster he can get back on a horse and get back into contention, like he did last week [at the Genesis Scottish Open], the better it is for him.”
But because McIlroy changed his number, he never received Woods’ message.
“I didn’t get it until he told me about it today,” McIlroy said.
Photo by Owen Humphreys/Getty Images
Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke check out something on McIlroy’s phone ahead of The 152nd Open.
“I was like, ‘Oh, thanks very much.’ So I blanked Tiger Woods, which is probably not a good thing.”
The two friends laughed about it on Tuesday at Royal Troon, which will host The Open for the 10th time this week.
“Tiger has been nothing but incredible to me over the course of my career in the good moments and the bad. He sent me an incredible message after St Andrews in 2022,” McIlroy added.
“It means a lot. It means a lot that he reached out. Actually, it means a lot that he waited a few days to reach out, which, if he hadn’t waited that long, I probably would have gotten it. But I caught up with him earlier. It’s always nice when your hero and the guy that you had on your bedroom wall is reaching out and offering words of encouragement.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
