Rónán MacNamara in Royal Troon
Rory McIlroy quickly vanished from Pinehurst after his bitter US Open disappointment last month and some might have thought he also went off the grid, including Tiger Woods after he changed his phone number in the aftermath of his loss to Bryson DeChambeau.
Tiger waited a few days to text McIlroy after his loss in North Carolina but, McIlroy never got the message having changed his phone number two days after the US Open and thus inadvertently ghosting the fifteen-time major champion.
“I changed my number two days after the U.S. Open, so I didn’t get it until he told me about it today. I was like, oh, thanks very much. So I blanked Tiger Woods, which is probably not a good thing,” McIlroy laughed.
“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.
“I met Tiger when I was 15 years old, and I’ve built up a great relationship with him, his whole family. He really enjoys spending time with my mom and dad as well.
“So, yeah, 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 have waited that long, I probably would have got 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.”
This isn’t the first time McIlroy has changed phone numbers and given the money floating around in the game of golf it certainly isn’t due to an inability to pay the bills.
“I actually haven’t done it in a while. So I thought it was time, yeah.
“I can pay the bills. There’s a lot of money floating around in golf at the minute.”
McIlroy abruptly left Pinehurst on that Sunday night after DeChambeau rolled in the final putt, meaning he didn’t engage in any post round interviews.
Naturally his phone was constantly pinging on his journey home to Jupiter Florida with several media members looking to make contact. Safe to say they are unlikely to receive a reply…
“Honestly, from the time I left Pinehurst to the time I walked through my front door on Sunday night, I probably got about 10 or 15 text messages from media members, and I was like, it’s probably time to get a new number. Create a bit of space.
“I’d much rather people reach out, in fairness. It’s a lovely thing and hopefully a nice reflection on how people feel about me or what they think about me. No, I’ll never shun messages of support or encouragement. It’s a lovely thing.”
A hallmark of the Holywood man’s career is his ability to bounce back from setbacks and a T4 finish at the Genesis Scottish Open last week was just the tonic to settle the world number two back into his stride and into the links groove.
McIlroy left Pinehurst a disconsolate figure and his latest attempt to finally win that elusive fifth major at the 152nd Open Championship in Royal Troon this week is his last chance to avoid entering an eleventh year since lifting the 2014 PGA Championship.
“Game’s in really good shape. Had a nice reset after Pinehurst that was needed and felt like I shook off a little bit of the rust last week and played okay. Felt like I probably could have given myself more of a chance to win the tournament.
“I thought it was a solid week. Again, it’s like one eye on preparing for this week, but another eye on trying to get into contention as well.
“Overall I’ve been in the UK now for a couple of weeks, and it’s felt nice to get back over here and get back into the swing of things.”
McIlroy tees off alongside Tyrrell Hatton and Max Homa.
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