Rory McIlroy gives reason for blanking Tiger Woods at The Open and admits regret

Rory McIlroy shared a humorous anecdote about unintentionally blanking Tiger Woods after he changed his phone number following the gut-wrenching finish at last month’s US Open at Pinehurst No. 2. After narrowly missing out on victory to Bryson DeChambeau by just one stroke in North Carolina, McIlroy decided to disconnect for a while, extending his decade-long wait for another major triumph. During this period of reflection, not only did McIlroy escape to New York City to lose himself among the masses, but he also opted for a new phone number.

McIlroy admitted feeling swamped by the barrage of texts from journalists in the immediate aftermath of the tournament at Pinehurst, where he faltered with bogeys on three of his last four holes, squandering a solid lead. Consequently, the 35 year old chose to start anew with a different number, inadvertently missing a text from his old pal Woods offering support.

“Full disclosure, I changed my number two days after the U.S. Open, so I didn’t get it until he told me about it today,” McIlroy confessed in his pre-tournament press conference ahead of The Open at Royal Troon. “I was like ‘Oh, thanks very much’. So I blanked Tiger Woods, which is probably not a good thing.”

The rapport between Woods and McIlroy had reportedly soured earlier in the year due to ongoing discussions about a potential merger between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, as both golf icons held contrasting views on the sport’s future direction.

However, Woods showed his support for McIlroy, disclosing the content of his message to the four-time major champion during his press conference on Tuesday morning. “I just sent him a nice text. That was it,” Woods shared. “I waited a week before I sent it. I wanted to let it calm down. 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. I think he played last week, and now he’s playing this week.”

“[I said ] just basically ‘I’m your friend. I know this is a difficult moment. We’ve all been there as champions. We all lose’. Unfortunately, it just happened, and the raw emotion of it, it’s still there, and it’s going to be there for, I’m sure, some time. The faster he’s able to get back on a horse and get back into contention, like he did last week, the better it is for him.”

McIlroy was effusive in his praise for Woods, who had hinted that this could be his final Open before appearing in a defiant mood in the press conference, hitting back at Colin Montgomerie after he called for Woods to retire. McIlroy stated: “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 mum 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.”