British Open 2024: Rory McIlroy changed his phone number, leading to an awkward slight of Tiger Woods

TROON, Scotland — In the aftermath of Rory McIlroy’s painful loss at the U.S. Open, the Northern Irishman received a plethora of encouraging texts and voice mails from family, friends, even the media. Among them was one from Tiger Woods, who reached out a few days afterward.

“I just sent him a nice text. That was it,” Woods said on Tuesday during his British Open pre-tournament press conference. “I waited a week before I sent it. I wanted to let it calm down, and I didn't want it to be … didn't want him … I know he was being besieged by a lot of different things going on, and just let it cool down for a week.”

When McIlroy met with the press on Tuesday at Royal Troon, he was asked about Tiger’s text and what it meant to him. But first there was a confession to make that provided a new wrinkle into the way McIlroy dealt with his disappointing finish at Pinehurst.

“Full disclosure, I changed my number two days after the U.S. Open,” McIlroy said. “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.”

Needless to say, McIlroy’s revelation of changing his cell phone number garnered a fair bit of follow-up from the curious media.

Do you change your cell phone number a lot?
“I actually haven’t done it for a while. So I thought it was time, yeah.”

Why did you change it from time to time? Safe to assume you weren’t cut off for not paying your bill?
“No, no, I can pay the bills. There's a lot of money floating around in golf at the minute.”

McIlroy then offered a little more insight response to the question of why.

“Honestly, 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,” McIlroy said, “and I was like, it's probably time to get a new number. Create a bit of space.”

Back to Tiger’s text. This wasn’t the first time that Woods, who has a business relationship with McIlroy in TGL, the virtual-golf league they’re launching in 2025. McIlroy noted that Woods sent him a message after McIlroy’s near-miss at the 2022 Open at St. Andrews.

“So, yeah, it means a lot. It means a lot that he reached out," McIlroy said. "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. 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.”

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Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.