Rory McIlroy reveals he ‘blanked’ Tiger Woods after U.S. Open heartbreak

Rory McIlroy’s collapse at the U.S. Open has been widely reported over the past month.

A baffling short miss on the 16th, a failed up-and-down on the 18th, a bad break on the par-5 5th and a miss on the par-3 15th will all live in infamy forever because they sealed McIlroy’s decade-long drought in major championships. McIlroy fell just short of Bryson DeChambeau, who was in the group behind McIlroy and miraculously saved par on the 18th to win by one stroke. As a result, McIlroy abruptly left the second hole at Pinehurst, spoke to no one and took off as fast as he could.

Over the next few days, McIlroy went out to Manhattan, where he collected his thoughts and walked along the High Line with AirPods in his ears. A few people recognized him, but most didn’t. He did decide to change his phone number to further distance himself from the furore, which led to a funny situation with Tiger Woods.

Woods, McIlroy’s mentor and close friend, was watching the 2024 U.S. Open unfold like everyone else, but sensing the tense, raw emotions of the moment, Woods decided to wait a week before contacting McIlroy.

“I just wanted to calm myself down,” Woods explained Tuesday ahead of the British Open.

“I knew a lot of things had been bothering him so I decided to take a week to cool off. Then I sent him a sweet message and that was it.”

Here’s what the text said:

“Basically, I’m your friend. I know these are difficult times. We’ve all been there as champions. We all lose,” Woods said.

“Unfortunately, it just happened and those raw emotions are still there and will remain there for a while. Hopefully he can get back on the horse quickly and get back into competition like he did last week. [at the Genesis Scottish Open]it is good for him.”

However, McIlroy had changed his phone number and never received the message from Woods.

“I didn’t understand it until he told me today,” McIlroy said.

Photo: Owen Humphreys/Getty Images

“I said, ‘Oh, thank you so much,’ and then I ignored Tiger Woods, which probably wasn’t a good thing.”

The two friends laughed about it on Tuesday at Royal Troon, which is hosting the British Open for the 10th time this week.

“Tiger has been great to me throughout my career through the good and bad times and he sent me a great message after the 2022 St Andrews,” McIlroy added.

“It means a lot. It means a lot that he reached out. In fact, it means a lot that he waited a few days to get in touch. If he hadn’t waited so long, I probably would have reached out, but I caught up with him early. It’s always nice when the guy who’s my hero and who I have hanging on my bedroom wall reaches out and offers words of encouragement.”

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.