Rory McIlroy chose not to speak to his playing partner Bryson DeChambeau during their final round at the Masters and has now explained his decision following a backlash
Rory McIlroy says he is more focused on winning trophies, rather than making friends, after being questioned about his decision to ignore Bryson DeChambeau at the Masters. McIlroy was paired with the American during the final round at Augusta and eyebrows were raised when DeChambeau revealed that the champion “didn’t talk to me once all day.”
It was an interesting sub-plot during a seesawing final day which ended when he finally got over the line with a play-off victory over Justin Rose to complete a career Grand Slam of Majors.
There had been suggestions of a falling out between two of golf’s biggest stars, but speaking at Quail Hollow ahead of the PGA Championship, McIlroy gave those suggestions short shrift.
“I don’t know what he was expecting. We’re trying to win the Masters. I’m not going to try to be his best mate out there,” he said bluntly.
Look, everyone approaches the game in different ways. Yeah, like I was focused on myself and what I needed to do. That’s really all that it was. It wasn’t anything against him or against – it’s just I felt that’s what I needed to do to try to get the best out of myself that day.”
McIlroy has worked with renowned golf psychologist Dr Bob Rotella and felt he needed to block out any external factors and concentrate solely on the task in front of him. There were some wobbles in the closing stages of the final 18 holes, but he was successful in getting the monkey off his back.
To be fair, DeChambeau himself had already moved to dismiss suggestions of beef with McIlroy. Speaking in April, he said: “He was just being stoic the whole day; there was nothing more. I was like, he just didn’t talk to me. It wasn’t a slight; there’s no beef or anything.
Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau did shake hands on the 18th green at Augusta
“It was like what Tiger [Woods] did to Tony [Finau back in 2019]. It’s the same combo, but it wasn’t meant to be in a bad way, and that’s how things happen. I wish people would not interpret things, but, you know, people will do that.”
McIlroy is looking forward to getting down to business at Quail Hollow – the scene of his first PGA Tour win back in 2010 – now he has the Masters win under his belt.
“I feel like I sort of burdened myself with the Career Grand Slam stuff, and I want to enjoy this,” he admitted.
“I want to enjoy what I’ve achieved, and I want to enjoy the last decade or whatever of my career, and I don’t want to burden myself by numbers or statistics. I just want to go and try to play the best golf I can.”