Rory McIlroy stole a fan’s phone at The Players Championship in a furious response to their heckling on Wednesday.
McIlroy played a practice round at TPC Sawgrass in Florida as he bids to win golf’s ‘fifth major’ for the first time since 2019 this week.
But things didn’t start off as planned for the Northern Irishman, who sent his first tee shot into the water.
That prompted one fan to yell ‘just like 2011 at Augusta’, mocking McIlroy for his infamous Masters meltdown over a decade ago.
Once McIlroy had returned to the tee box and hit his second shot, he walked over to the fan with the club still in his hand and asked to see their phone.
McIlroy took the phone out of the fan’s hand, looked through it and then walked away with it still in his possession.
Rory McIlroy stole a fan’s phone at The Players Championship in a furious response to heckling
McIlroy took the phone out of the fan’s hand, looked through it and then walked away with it
The fan looked shocked and it remains unclear what happened to the phone once the footage ends.
When asked by DailyMail.com tournament organizers were unaware the incident occurred.
McIlroy is hoping to take the positives from an improved putting performance into the Players Championship as he seeks a second victory at Sawgrass.
He began his PGA Tour campaign with victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but was unable to mount a serious title challenge in each of his subsequent starts.
However, the four-time major winner was encouraged by his performance on the greens in the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week, where an experiment with new equipment proved to be short-lived.
‘It feels good,’ McIlroy said of his game during a pre-tournament interview.
‘I’d say even the two finishes post-Pebble have been almost like the worst that they could be. I finished bad on Sunday at Bay Hill. I finished bad on Sunday at Torrey Pines, as well.
‘But the one thing I would say is the turnaround in my putting from Torrey to Bay Hill was great. I finished, I think, fifth [actually seventh] in putting last week, so to see that turn around was really encouraging.
‘That’s something for me to be really encouraged about going into this week, obviously, and then the next few months.’
McIlroy played a practice round at TPC Sawgrass in Florida as he bids to win golf’s ‘fifth major’
McIlroy switched to some of his sponsor’s new clubs for the first three rounds at Bay Hill but struggled to get to grips with the updated equipment and returned to his old set-up on Sunday.
‘Some years you vibe with a new piece of equipment a little easier,’ McIlroy explained.
‘Like that Qi10 that I’m using that they brought out last year, it was like love at first sight. I was like, this thing is amazing. I think when you feel like that about a golf club, it’s very hard to change into something else.
‘It ebbs and flows. Some years it’s easier than others. Look, they’re all businesses and they’re all trying to make money and innovate and try to be better. So I understand why the cycle is the way it is.’
McIlroy will partner Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler in the first two rounds at Sawgrass, Scheffler having become the first player in the tournament’s 50-year history to win back-to-back titles last year.
Scheffler carded an eagle and six birdies in a flawless closing 64 to overturn a five-shot deficit and finish 20 under par, a shot ahead of Schauffele, Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman.
