Rory McIlroy was in no mood to respond to the world after his meltdown at last month's U.S. Open, going as far as changing his phone number in avoidance. As a result, McIlroy missed outreach from all directions -- even Tiger Woods' words of encouragement -- after the Northern Irishman's final-round collapse at Pinehurst No. 2. "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 Tuesday, two days before he will compete in the Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland. "I was like, 'Oh, thanks very much.' So, I blanked Tiger Woods, which is probably not a good thing." Given time to absorb the notion that Woods made a point to send words of encouragement, McIlroy clearly appreciated that the 15-time major champion reached out to him. "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." When asked if he'd mind sharing what he said, Woods attempted to summarize. "Just basically, as you know, I'm your friend. I know this is a difficult moment. We've all been there as champions. We all lose," he said. "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." Woods even shared some of his failures during his decorated career. "You look at the highlights -- I've missed plenty of putts," Woods said. "I've missed plenty of shots. Just like (NBA Hall of Famer Michael) 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." --Field Level Media
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy in 2023.