It has been a month since Rory McIlroy suffered one of the most painful defeats of his pro career during the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst. Some of his high-profile friends from the sports realm tried to reach out to him to offer consoling messages following his loss to Bryson DeChambeau.
The Northern Irishman missed two crucial putts on the final three holes of that tournament to leave the door open for DeChambeau, who capitalized on the opportunity. McIlroy carded 5-under 275 when it was all said and done at Pinehurst — just a shot worse than DeChambeau, who came away with 6-under 274
Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal, and 15-time major champion Tiger Woods all sent Rory McIlroy messages, though, he was only able to read those sent by Jordan and Nadal.
“MJ was maybe the first person to text me after I missed the putt on the 18th but both of them got in touch very, very quickly,” McIlroy said to The Guardian about Jordan's and Nadal's messages (h/t Adam Schupak of Golfweek).
“They just told me to keep going. MJ reminded me of how many game-winning shots he missed. Really nice.”
Woods revealed during Tuesday's press conference before the start of the 2024 edition of The Open Championship that he took time before sending a message to McIlroy to give his friend time to be on his own first.
However, McIlroy was not able to read the message because it was sent after he switched numbers.
“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,” McIlroy added.
McIlroy explained that he felt he needed to change his number after getting inundated with messages from the media.
“From the time I left Pinehurst to the time I walked through my front door on Sunday night, I probably got about 10 or 15 text messages from media members, and I was like, it’s probably time to get a new number,” McIlroy shared. “Create a bit of space.”
Will Rory McIlroy's decade-long drought finally end at Royal Troon?
As mentioned ad nauseam, McIlroy is still in the hunt for his first major title since 2014. That year, he won The Open Championship and the PGA Championship in back-to-back fashion. What followed those consecutive triumphs is a tormenting drought that McIlroy hopes to finally end this month at Royal Troon.
What makes McIlroy's major-less stretch particularly cruel was the number of times it looked as though he was going to win one. The heartbreak at Pinehurst was just one of the many agonizing defeats for McIlroy in a major tournament where he was on the cusp of winning. Just in his last 11 major starts, McIlroy managed to crack the top 10 eight times and that includes three runner-up finishes. That stretch also covers his last two Open appearances; he finished third at St. Andrews in 2022 and with a T-6 at Royal Liverpool in 2023.
McIlroy, who had a T-5 at Royal Troon back in the 2016 edition of The Open Championship, is having a terrific 2024 PGA TOUR campaign, notwithstanding his loss in the US Open. He is 15/15 with two victories and six top 10s, so far this year.
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