Rory apologizes to ‘Bones,’ says LaCava incident ‘still hurts’

“Rocky” McIlroy, they called him after his fiery outburst Saturday evening in the Marco Simone parking lot.

Rory McIroy was recorded yelling in the direction of Jim “Bones” Mackay following the conclusion of play on Day 2 of the Ryder Cup. McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick had just lost their fourballs match to Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark.

Cantlay made a 43-footer for birdie on the final hole, creating a raucous celebration that included Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava, waving his hat in proximity to McIlroy while Rory was focused on reading his potential match-tying putt.

McIlroy took exception to LaCava’s behavior and subsequently missed his putt. Several minutes later, he was seen in the parking lot screaming profanities in the direction of Mackay, who caddies for Justin Thomas.

“He was the first American I saw after I got out of the locker room, so he was the one that took the brunt of it,” McIlroy said of Mackay. “He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I texted Bones this morning and apologized for that.

“I was hot coming out of that yesterday. I was pretty angry. I didn’t agree with what happened on 18, but I think I let it fuel the fire today and it focused me and I was able to go out there and get my point.”

McIlroy still seemed to be holding a grudge against LaCava on Sunday. After his 3-and-1 singles win over Sam Burns, McIlroy was asked about a report that LaCava had texted him to apologize. “I haven’t seen Joe,” McIlroy curtly responded – twice.

In his victorious team press conference Sunday evening, McIlroy said he was grateful that Shane Lowry pulled him away from Saturday’s confrontation. He added that Lowry “took me down to the cold plunge in the hotel and let me cool off there for a few minutes, too.”

LaCava is Tiger Woods’ former caddie and someone with whom McIlroy is very familiar. As for their future relationship, McIlroy said, “We haven’t seen each other face-to-face, but we’ve texted, and everything will be fine. But it’s a point of contention and it still hurts.

“But time is a great healer and we’ll all move on.”