Rory McIlroy reveals why he didn’t respond to Tiger Woods’ text following U.S. Open collapse

Rory McIlroy explained to reporters on Tuesday why he recently didn’t respond to a supportive text message from Tiger Woods following the former’s collapse at the 2024 U.S. Open.

McIlroy — who finished second at the mid-June major — will try to end a 10-year title drought at the upcoming Open Championship, which begins on Thursday.

“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 said. “I was like, ‘Oh, thanks very much.’ So, I blanked Tiger Woods, which is probably not a good thing.”

The four-time major victor added that Woods has been “nothing but incredible to me over the course of my career in the good moments and the bad.” McIlroy said that the five-time Masters champion sent him “an incredible message” after the Northern Irishman dropped from first to third in the final round of the 2022 Open Championship.

“I met Tiger when I was 15 years old, and I’ve built up a great relationship with him, his whole family,” McIlroy said. “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.”

According to a report by ESPN’s Mark Schlabach, McIlroy took three weeks off from “competitive golf” after the U.S. Open before playing at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open and tying for fourth at 14 under.

According to the report, Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and 22-time Grand Slam men’s tennis champion Rafael Nadal also contacted McIlroy in support of last month’s event.

“We’ve all been there as champions,” Woods said, according to the report. “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.”