Rory McIlroy admits he ‘blanked Tiger Woods’ after changing phone number

TROON, Scotland – Remember that time Rory McIlroy ghosted Tiger Woods?

To be fair, McIlroy had a good reason for not responding to a text message that Woods sent him about a week after he’d loss last month’s U.S. Open to Bryson DeChambeau.

“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. I was like, oh, thanks very much,” McIlroy laughed Tuesday at The Open. “So, I blanked Tiger Woods, which is probably not a good thing.”

Woods told the media Tuesday that he waited about a week “to let it calm down” before texting McIlroy and the Northern Irishman added that he appreciated the effort, even though he never received the message.

“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,” McIlroy said. “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.

“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.”

McIlroy went on to explain that by the time he arrived home following the final round at the U.S. Open he’d received about 15 text messages from media members and he decided “it’s probably time to get a new number. Create a bit of space.”