Rory McIroy reveals he BLANKED Tiger Woods as text sent after US Open nightmare went unread

Rory McIlroy changed his number and missed the precious message of backing from idol Tiger Woods.

But the Northern Irish superstar insists he’s fully dialled-in again for Major redemption. McIlroy is at Royal Troon gunning for glory with a superstar ally. The 35-year-old’s painful US Open loss last month was a crushing blow. In the wake of the Pinehurst pain, McIlroy altered his phone digits to escape unwanted contact as he headed for New York.

Unfortunately, that meant he didn’t get the heartfelt text sent by Woods, who tried getting in touch to offer backing and understanding. Given he had photos of the 15-times Major champion on his wall as a kid, McIlroy is almost blown away that he now gets to call Tiger a mate. But he smiled: “Full disclosure, I changed my number two days after the US Open, so I didn’t get it [text] until he told me about it today. I was like: Oh, thanks very much. So I blanked Tiger Woods, which is probably not a good thing!

“I met Tiger when I was 15 years old. I’ve built up a great relationship with him, his whole family. He really enjoys spending time with my mum and dad as well, so it means a lot that he reached out. Actually, it means a lot that he waited a few days, which if he hadn’t have waited that long, I probably would have got it!

“But I caught up with him earlier. It’s always nice when your hero and the guy that you had on your bedroom wall is reaching out and offering words of encouragement. Tiger has been nothing but incredible to me over the course of my career in the good moments and the bad. He sent me an incredible message after St Andrews in 2022.

“I don’t take it for granted that I can wake up every day and try to live out my childhood dream. One of my childhood dreams was to