Don’t expect Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay to send each other any Christmas cards this holiday season.
In his most recent interview with Paul Kimmage of the Irish Independent, McIlroy disclosed that the two PGA Tour stars and the top five players in the Official World Golf Ranking have an “average relationship at best.” The four-time major champion even went so far as to refer to Cantlay as a “d*ck.”
“Here’s what angered me,” McIlroy told Kimmage. “My relationship with Cantlay is average at best. We don’t have a ton in common and see the world quite differently.”
McIlroy went on to say that he felt he went out of his way to help Cantlay with the crowd in Rome that day, but that the American duo didn’t show the same respect after Cantlay holed what turned out to be the winning putt on the final hole during a Saturday four-ball. LaCava joined in as other American players waved a hat, a reference to the report that Cantlay was refusing to wear a team hat out of protest for not being paid to play in the event (which Cantlay denied).
McIlroy was still upset as he left the course later and crossed paths with several Americans, including Jim “Bones” Mackay. In a video that went viral, Lowry was seen holding back McIlroy, but it turns out he had also convinced his buddy not to “sort this out” by going into the Team USA locker room.
“And they’re trying to defuse the situation, but I start having a go at them,” McIlroy said of the clubhouse incident. “‘Joe LaCava used to be a nice guy when he was caddieing for Tiger, and now he’s caddieing for that d*ck he’s turned into a …’ I still wasn’t in a great headspace.”
McIlroy acknowledged that his profanity-laced exhange in public was “not my finest moment.” He also shared that when he got to his hotel room, Tiger Woods, LaCava’s former boss and McIlroy’s current friend and business partner in TMRW Sports and TGL, had been trying to get in touch as well.
“I sent him a quick message,” said McIlroy, who along with Cantlay hasn’t played since the Ryder Cup. “‘It will be fine … long day … just want to go to bed.’”
The next day, McIlroy answered with a victory in his singles match and a commanding 16½-11½ win for Europe. In addition, he denied an NBC report that claimed he had a meeting with LaCava to settle matters before the last session. However, McIlroy claimed in a different interview conducted last month that the two made up that Sunday night.
McIlroy told the BBC, “Things happen in the heat of the moment, tensions were high.” “On Sunday night, Joe LaCava stopped by the European team room for a drink and some conversation.”
However, it appears that those tensions are still fairly high, at least between McIlroy and Cantlay.