Rory McIlroy is without doubt one of the finest golf stars of his generation and has provided plenty of performances that live long in the memory of fans around the world.
He is also very bold and not afraid to voice his opinion on certain issues, as we have seen since the controversial LIV golf series came into operation. With a number of high profile stars, such as Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, defecting McIlroy has maintained his loyalty with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, while hitting out at those stars who have jumped ship.
But that's not the first time the golfing star has aired his views. During his career the four-time major winner has engaged in verbal spats with fellow members of the golfing world, which Mirror Sport has looked back on below.
Billy Horschel
McIlroy and Horschel fell out at the Walker Cup at Royal Country Down in Northern Ireland in 2007 after the pair had been drawn against each other for the final day singles. “I was up against Horschel on the first day, too,’ McIlroy recalled the following year. "I messed up the last hole and lost to him. I wasn’t happy. Then I got him again, twice, on the Sunday. His antics were really p****** me off.
“For example, he had hit a bunker shot at the 14th in our morning foursome. It was a great shot and finished inches from the cup. But he came running down the hill hollering at the top of his voice. He was so loud and so obnoxious.
“Anyway, that outburst of his was probably the worst thing he could have done. In the second singles, I set out to be as loud as he was.
“On the first tee I ripped a drive up the middle, hit my seven-iron approach to maybe 15 feet – I was shouting ‘Be good! Be good!’ all the way – and holed the putt for an eagle. When the ball went in, I gave it the loudest ‘Come on!’ you’ve ever heard. I think he got the point.”
Brandel Chamblee
In 2016, McIlroy didn't appreciate Chamblee's concerns that the four-time major champ was doing too much weightlifting. The NBC/Golf Channel analyst compared McIlroy to Tiger Woods and said the gym time could lead Rory down a "destructive path." McIlroy's response was to tweet this video of him lifting weights to Chamblee.
The following year, Chamblee tweeted several times about the optimal angle of attack when hitting with a driver. The 59-year-old argued that hitting down on the ball with the driver -- and not up, which is what most people are taught -- has produced the longest and straightest hitters off the tee.
McIlroy, who hits up on the ball with his driver, wasn't buying it. “To get the most out of modern equipment you need to hit up on the driver.”
Greg Norman
The Northern Irishman has been one of the most outspoken players on the PGA Tour regarding the controversial LIV golf series.
Following his Canadian Open victory earlier this month, he took the opportunity to land a brutal swipe at LIV Golf boss Greg Norman.
The win in Canada was the Northern Irishman’s 21st PGA Tour, one more than LIV Golf’s Norman.
“This is a day I’ll remember for a long, long time,” he said. “My 21st PGA Tour win - one more than someone else [Norman] - that gave me a little extra incentive today and I’m happy to get that.”
Phil Mickelson
Back in February, when the rumblings of a new super golf league began to gather pace, McIlroy slammed Phil Mickelson for his comments regarding the new league and Saudi Arabia, who backed it financially. Mickelson took aim at the PGA Tour for “obnoxious greed” and explained why he would be open to competing in a breakaway league, despite Saudi Arabia's questionable human rights record and inhumane LGBTQ+ laws.
“They execute people over there for being gay,” Mickelson said. “Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”
Following his final round at the Genesis Invitational, the four-time major winner then fumed: “I don’t want to kick someone while he’s down obviously, but I thought they were naïve, selfish, egotistical, ignorant,” the four-time major winner added.
“A lot of words to describe that interaction he had. It was just very surprising and disappointing, sad. I’m sure he’s sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here.”
R&A and USGA
In early 2021, it was announced that golf’s governing bodies intended to limit the length of a driver shaft to 46 inches, two inches shorter than the current legal limit, with further changes potentially on the horizon.
McIlroy accused the R&A and USGA of wasting time and money by spending “millions of dollars” on “looking at the wrong thing”. “I feel the R&A and USGA are looking at golf through a tiny, narrow little lens that pertains to 0.1% of golfers,” McIlroy said.
“Yes, of course the ball goes a long way with top-level professionals and top-level amateurs and the guys who make their living playing this game, but 99.9% of golfers don’t do that. And they don’t want the ball to go shorter. They need help getting the ball in the air for going further!
“They spent millions of dollars doing this Distance Insight report, which I think… it’s not going to change the game at all. “I’m probably going to get in trouble for saying this but it reeks of self-importance, and that’s not… yes, they’re the gatekeepers of the game, but their job is to make sure the game thrives in a hundred years’ time, and this is not the way to do it.
