Rory McIlroy has revealed explicit details surrounding his Ryder Cup row with Joe LaCava.
Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark beat McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick on hole 18 in a vital match on day two – a moment that sparked the spat that followed.
The Northern Irishman felt “complete rage” during the bust-up with Cantlay’s caddie after losing in the Saturday fourballs.
McIlroy told the Irish Independent that Tiger Woods, whom LaCava once carried for, messaged and called him after the incident that spilt over in a parking lot.
He also downplayed his personal relationship with Cantlay who was widely reported to want money to play in the event during the week.
“My relationship with Cantlay is average at best. We don’t have a ton in common and see the world quite differently,” he said.
“But when I saw he was getting stick on the 17th and 18th greens, I tried to quieten the crowd for him. And I don’t think Fitz and I were afforded the same opportunity to try and hole those putts to halve the match.
“I shook Joe’s hand, and Patrick’s hand. Those three putts he made on 16, 17 and 18 were fantastic, and under that pressure, to give your team a glimmer of hope going into Sunday was big balls. So all respect to him.
“There was a bit of argy-bargy at the back of the 18th green with Fred Couples and Thomas Bjorn – and that’s fine – but as I’m walking back to the locker room I can feel this red mist coming over me – ‘No! That wasn’t right.”
McIlroy said he was “getting more and more riled up” and wished to go to the Team USA locker room.
This was after Shane Lowry had allegedly been “roaring and shouting” in the team room.
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“Shane was like, ‘No Rory, Bad idea’.” Lowry was also interviewed by the Irish Independent.
Rory McIlroy-Joe LaCava spat: What happened afterwards?
Word of McIlroy’s exchange with Joe LaCava at Marco Simone, and then Jim “Bones” McKay, spread when footage emerged on social media.
McIlroy described the moment when McKay, the caddie of Justin Thomas, approached to reduce the tension:
“He’s coming over (McKay) to try and defuse the situation,
“But he’s wearing an American top, and I know he’s friends with Joe, and I just tripped. Complete rage.
“I felt bad about it afterwards because Bones’s wife was standing beside him, and I used a lot of swear words. So not my finest moment. Then Shane bundled me into the car.”
“We get to the hotel, and as you come into the lobby we go left to our wing of the hotel, and the Americans go right to their wing.
“So we’re going left and someone is shouting at me, ‘Rory, Rory!’, and I look back and it’s Ricky Elliott (Brooks Koepka’s caddie) and Claude Harmon (Koepka’s coach).
“And they’re trying to defuse the situation but I start having a go at them. ‘Joe LaCava used to be a nice guy when he was caddying for Tiger, and now he’s caddying for that d*** he’s turned into a -’ .
“I still wasn’t in a great headspace.
“I went back to my room and there was a text from Joe LaCava: ‘Hey Rory, would love to meet up in the morning to clear the air.’ But I was tired and didn’t get back to him.
“There was also three texts and two missed calls from Tiger, because they’re obviously still close. I sent him a quick message: ‘It will be fine… long day… just want to go to bed.”
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