“I totally get it. Emotions” - Tiger Woods shares his opinion on the Rory Mcllroy-Joe LaCava incident at 2023 Ryder Cup
Tiger Woods has spoken on the now viral moment between Rory McIlroy and Team USA caddies at the Ryder Cup. In the midst of a heated battle, the Americans had finally seemed to turn the tide and start to make a comeback and they celebrated as a result.
McIlroy, meanwhile, was trying to line up a shot to tie the match and felt that the celebration was out of hand and was too close to him, and the entire thing escalated from there. Woods, who got text messages about it at the time, said this via Bunkered:
“Well, what transpired there, it was media, it was just noise. Then (there is) obviously the fact that everyone now carries a mobile device and that was able to spread. You’re not on home soil, so they’re going to try to get in your head and that’s what they tried to do. I totally get it. Emotions. We all want to win. You have a home side and opposing side, you’re going to get heat and that’s what happened.”
The entire incident stemmed between Joe LaCava, who formerly caddied for Woods, and McIlroy, who got into it. Eventually, McIlroy had to be taken off the grounds to "cool down". He said he went back to his room and had a text from LaCava:
"Hey Rory, would love to meet up in the morning to clear the air."
The Irishman was "tired" and didn’t get back to him. He also added that Woods had begun to try and get involved, since he's friends with McIlroy and worked with LaCava:
“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.’”
The incident is far in the past and a relative non-issue now, but it took hold of the golf world for a while as it was relatively unprecedented at the time.
Tiger Woods speaks more on Ryder Cup
Tiger Woods also broke his silence on the Hatgate controversy surrounding the Ryder Cup. Patrick Cantlay reportedly refused to wear a hat to protest the tournament and its lack of payment to athletes representing their countries.
During his press conference that has solidified his return to the sport after recovering from surgery, he said that payment or lack thereof was "not the issue".
The legendary PGA Tour player also refused to confirm if he'd play for Team USA in the future. Now that he's healthy and playing again, it's certainly feasible, but Woods said:
“Right now there’s too much at stake with our tour to think about a Ryder Cup. We have to get this done and we have to be focused on this right now. The players and everyone involved understands that this is an issue we need to focus on.”
The Ryder Cup is not going to happen again until 2025, so the team and Tiger Woods himself have time to decide on anything like that.