Rory McIlroy on condolences, hugs and missing Tiger text after U.S. Open

TROON, Scotland – They spend their professional lives trying to beat each other, but when the results reach a cringey brutality, when the punch in the stomach hurts even to watch, the walls come down and the humanity rushes in.

Such is life for Rory McIlroy, who at The Open Championship at Royal Troon this week will try to write a happier ending to the long-running saga in which he’s sought his fifth major title. Ten years is a long, long wait for the faithful.

It’s likely felt longer for McIlroy, who won four majors from 2011-14 but hasn’t won one since. His most recent close call was arguably his most painful, as he missed two short putts in the last three holes at the U.S. Open to lose by a shot to Bryson DeChambeau, who now has two U.S. Open titles to his name.

McIlroy looked crestfallen, prompting some to wonder just how much a man can take. Anyone with a shred of empathy could feel his pain, and many reached out to offer a virtual hug. You might have even heard of some of them.

“Rafa Nadal and Michael Jordan,” said McIlroy, who finished T5 at the 2016 Open Championship at Troon, told Ewan Murray of The Guardian. "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. They just told me to keep going.

“MJ reminded me of how many game-winning shots he missed,” he added. “Really nice.”

On Tuesday, Tiger Woods revealed that he, too, reached out with a text a week after the crushing loss.

“Just basically, as you know, I'm your friend,” Woods said. “I know this is a difficult moment. We've all been there as champions. 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 (McIlroy tied for fourth at the Genesis Scottish Open), the better it is for him.”

I’m your friend. It was a lovely sentiment. Alas, McIlroy never got the text and never even knew Woods had sent it.

“Full disclosure,” McIlroy said, “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. So, I blanked Tiger Woods, which is probably not a good thing. 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 (McIlroy lost in agonizing fashion at The Open at) St. Andrews in 2022.

"It means a lot that he reached out,” he continued. “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. But I caught up with him earlier.”

McIlroy’s runner-up at the U.S. Open marked his 11th top-five in a major since he won at the 2014 PGA Championship and the second straight U.S. Open in which he finished one back. It was as brutal a loss as we’ve seen from the three-time FedExCup winner, and, going ahead with earlier plans to visit New York, he largely disappeared from public view. He walked the High Line in Manhattan with his AirPods in, just one man in a sea of people, alone with his thoughts.

“It's liberating in some way,” he said. “The thing is just to get out, to not be on a screen, to look around, to – I think trying to find the joy from the small things in life, I think, is really important.

“Going there especially is a good reset,” he continued, “just in terms of seeing everyone living their lives and the hustle and the bustle. Honestly, no one gave a s--- if I missed the putt at Pinehurst. It's a nice perspective to keep.”

Asked about tough losses, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, the first player to reach six TOUR wins in a season before July since Arnold Palmer in 1962, cited the 2022 FedExCup, where McIlroy overcame a six-shot deficit to beat him.

“I remember immediately after,” Scheffler said. “I think Justin (Thomas) was standing there and gave me a hug. He didn't really have a ton to say, but he gave me a hug just because we're good buddies. … It was nice to just get a hug.”

Such are the perils of life at the top, where both the victories and defeats are beamed around the world.

“You look at the highlights, I've missed plenty of putts,” Woods said. “I've missed plenty of shots. Just like Jordan, when they said how many shots have you taken? You see all the game-winning shots, but also, he's missed a ton of game-winning shots too. The thing is you still take the game-winning shot, and I still want the last putt.”

Good words for McIlroy to live by as he tries for that ever-elusive fifth major.

“I would say maybe like three or four days after,” he said, when asked how long it took him to get back on his feet. “Went from being very disappointed and dejected to trying to focus on the positives to then wanting to learn from the negatives and then getting to the point where you become enthusiastic and motivated to go again.

“It's funny how your mindset can go from ‘I don't want to see a golf course for a month’ to like four days later being, ‘Can't wait to get another shot at it.’ When that disappointment turns to motivation, that's when it's time to go again.”