Rory McIlroy has had a season to remember, but he has at least one regret.
“I was like, ‘F— hell, I just gave Tiger Covid!’
In an interview with The Independent on Sunday, McIlroy recounted the circumstances that led to him and Tiger Woods both contracting COVID-19 before The Open.
McIlroy first said he felt symptoms a week and a half ago at the St. Andrews Open while playing in the JP McManus Pro-Am in Ireland.
The two-day, 36-hole event at Adare Manor featured nine of the top 10 players in the world at the time, as well as Woods, but McIlroy said “everyone had COVID”.
“Tiger needs a rest on Wednesday. We played two days of golf at Adare and the plan was to play Ballybunion on Thursday,” McIlroy said after playing on Monday and Tuesday. “I woke up that morning feeling a bit sore but didn’t think anything of it. JP [McManus] He gave us the chops and we went down with (my manager) Sean. [O’Flaherty] and tiger manager, Rob [McNamara]. We went back to my apartment to have lunch after a nice reunion and when I got up from the table I was so tired, so tired. To (my wife) Erica: ‘I feel a little weird. I’m going upstairs to get some sleep.’ I slept for two hours and was just sweating, then Erica took the temperature and the sky was high. I called Tiger: ‘I don’t feel good here.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, I feel good.’ But he texted me at 10 o’clock that night, chills, fever, and I was like ‘F— hell, I’ve given it to Tiger’s covid! This is horrible!’ So we both got the covid into the open.
While McIlroy did not say in the interview that he had tested positive for Covid-19, he revealed that he had gone all week at The Open without being able to taste anything.
“I went to the Champions dinner on Tuesday night and it was beautiful. I was sitting there drinking water and they poured me a glass of wine, a beautiful 2005 Bordeaux, and I was like, “Ahh, I’m going to drink a little bit. “But I couldn’t taste it,” McIlroy said. “I had no taste the whole week of the Open, and everything smelled like vinegar. Everything, it was really weird.”
Although not 100%, McIlroy finished third at The Open, while Woods missed out.
McIlroy continued his strong form throughout the season, winning a record third FedEx Cup, winning two more tournaments and returning to No. 1 in the world rankings. Additionally, there was a strong and frequent vote in support of the PGA Tour Challenge from Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
Woods hasn’t played since The Open, but he took home a $15 million bonus from the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program, which he says is “rewarded to members who have shown the greatest interest on the PGA Tour.” He will play again this weekend. In the 20-man Hero World Challenge, which uses a wooden base.
McIlroy and Woods will pair up for The Match on Dec. 10, where they will play alongside Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in the made-for-TV event.
Information from ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and The Associated Press was used in this report.
