At the Ryder Cup in Rome, Rory McIlroy and two Team USA caddies got into a heated argument that even involved fighting in a parking lot.
After getting into a heated argument with Patrick Cantlay’s caddie Jim LaCava at the Ryder Cup in Rome, Rory McIlroy has spoken out about the incident.
McIlroy earned more points than any other player after winning four of his five matches, contributing significantly to Europe’s 16.5-11.5 triumph over their American adversaries. He and Matt Fitzpatrick suffered their lone loss of the week in the Saturday fourballs when they fell one-up to Cantlay and Wyndham Clark.
The final match of day two came to a dramatic ending, after Cantlay – who had found himself at the centre of an alleged fall out in the US camp – holed the winning putt at 18.
A report from Sky Sports claimed that the the American had caused a split within the U.S. dressing room over not being paid to play. It was claimed in protest he was refusing to play with a cap, something that was quickly dismissed by Cantlay and his US teammates.
After holing a superb birdie putt at the final hole, every member of Zach Johnson’s team took off their hats and waved them in the air in an ironic dig at the report. This included his caddie LaCava, but the bag-man appeared to take his celebrations one step too far
LaCava was seen wandering across the 18th green, directing his cap-waving celebration in the direction of McIlroy, who still had a putt to halve the hole. Unsurprisingly the four-time major champion was unhappy with the caddie’s antics, and the pair exchanged heated words on the back of it. Things then took a turn minutes later, as McIlroy was involved in another caddie clash, this time with Justin Thomas’ sidekick Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay.
The enraged Northern Irishman had to pulled away by Shane Lowry, as he made his feelings known in the car park. Nearly one month on, McIlroy has opened up on the drama, and admitted it only helped spur him onto victory 24 hours later.
When asked if he regretted the fallout, he responded, “Jeez, no, not at all,” to Sky Sports. I believed that what occurred in the parking lot inspired the team and was advantageous to us. Following the incident, it was claimed that McIlroy and LaCava met on Sunday morning to resolve their differences, but the European has refuted this.
The incident took place. Since my goal was to ensure that Europe won the Ryder Cup, he continued, “I didn’t want to meet anyone on Sunday morning because I wanted what happened to motivate me. “After that, we’ll work out all the other details. And everything is fine. We all get along.