Rory McIlroy was in no mood to talk about his angry outburst at a fan when he spoke to the media after his opening round at The Players Championship on Thursday.
McIlroy shot an impressive 67 to leave him five under par but still faced questions about an incident that had occurred on Tuesday during a practice round.
The 35-year-old stole a fan’s phone in a furious response to their heckling on Tuesday.
McIlroy was playing a practice round at Florida’s TPC Sawgrass when he sent a tee shot into the water on the 18th.
In response to his poor shot, one fan yelled out ‘just like 2011 at Augusta’, mocking McIlroy for his infamous Masters meltdown more than 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.
Rory McIlroy spoke to the media on Thursday after carding a first-round 67 at TPC Sawgrass
McIlroy stole a fan’s phone earlier in the week after being heckled during a practice round
Twenty-year-old University of Texas golfer Luke Potter was the fan who heckled McIlroy, 35
McIlroy took the phone out of the fan’s hand, looked through it and then walked away with it still in his possession.
The phone was eventually returned to the fan, who was ejected from the venue.
It later emerged that the heckling fan had been 20-year-old college golfer Luke Potter from the University of Texas, who was in Florida for the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational.
At McIlroy’s press conference on Thursday, one reporter asked: ‘Rory, can I ask you about the shenanigans with that kid on 17 in practice?’
‘No, you can’t,’ McIlroy replied before smiling.’ After the reporter asked why he couldn’t ask that question, McIlroy added: ‘Because I don’t want you to.’
Both McIlroy and the reporter laughed before the reporter defied the Northern Irishman by asking a follow-up question on the same subject.
‘The whole thing I think was made stranger by the fact it wasn’t a civilian, that it was a player,’ the journalist said. ‘Is that surprising? Did you know that? And did you learn that later? And did it surprise you when you learned it?’
Completely avoiding the matter, McIlroy answered: ‘I’m really happy that I shot 67 today.’
McIlroy smiled during the press conference but refused to talk about the incident with Potter
Potter (left) and his Texas team-mates were in Florida for the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational
