Rory McIlroy finally responds to Tiger Woods' US Open message of support

Changing your phone number has consequences. Even your old friends can’t reach you anymore. And when Tiger Woods ran into Rory McIlroy here and wondered why he hadn’t responded to a text he sent him after the Northern Irishman’s woes at the US Open at Pinehurst last month, he was completely transparent:

“I changed my number two days after the U.S. Open, so I didn’t have it until he told me about it today. I was like, ‘Oh, thank you very much.’ So I shut Tiger Woods down, which is probably not a good thing,” McIlroy joked.

The problem was that Woods had waited – until his injuries had healed – to send a text message to his phone. In the meantime, McIlroy had changed his number, so the message was somewhere in the ether.

“Tiger has been incredible to me throughout my career, in good times and bad. He sent me an incredible message after St Andrews in 2022,” McIlroy said, recalling that final round when he looked to have the Claret Jug in his grasp, only to have Cameron Smith and his magic putter steal it.

McIlroy then added: “I met Tiger when I was 15 and I’ve had a great relationship with him and his whole family. He also loves spending time with my mom and dad. It means a lot that he reached out to me. In fact, it means a lot that he waited a few days to reach out to me, and if he hadn’t waited that long, I probably would have gotten my answer.”

“But I met him earlier. It’s always nice when your hero and the guy you had on your bedroom wall reach out and offer words of encouragement.”

McIlroy returned to competition last week at the Genesis Scottish Open after taking a break after Pinehurst to nurse some injuries from his late collapse at the U.S. Open, where he looked set to end a 10-year major drought. Instead, it was Bryson DeChambeau’s turn.

“My game is really good. I had a good reset after Pinehurst, which I needed, and I feel like I shook off some of the rust last week (he tied for fourth) and played well,” he said. “I feel like I probably could have given myself a better chance to win the tournament. I think it was a solid week. Again, it’s like I’m getting ready for this week, but I’m also focused on trying to get in the race.”

McIlroy played a practice round with Darren Clarke and Tom McKibbin – he reunited with caddie Dave McNeilly this week – and was also accompanied by his putting coach Brad Faxon. There was another man there too: Luke Donald. And it was his European Ryder Cup captain who asked him for advice on putting on slower greens.

“I don’t like to play the putter too much. Fax was out there walking with me this morning, as was Luke Donald. I really try to focus on putting more than anything else here and making it roll well, because any putt that’s hit poorly here just doesn’t go in the hole.

“So I asked Luke a little bit, and he always said he likes to focus on the pace of his shot and actually making it a little bit shorter and a little bit snappier on greens like this. So that’s something, you know, the stroke and maybe just thinking a little bit more about the pace of the shot, two good things this week.”