Rory McIlroy said Tiger and Phil are 'just getting older.' Was that wrong?
ATLANTA — Rory McIlroy is 25 years old, the world's top-ranked player and will drive down Magnolia Lane with four major titles and with a chance at his fifth to complete the career Grand Slam.
If he were successful in April, McIlroy would be the first to complete the Grand Slam since Tiger Woods in 2000.
The same Woods that McIlroy suggested Wednesday was "getting older."
It was the third-to-final question in a Tour Championship press conference that ran for 20 minutes — and has now lit social media on fire.
McIlroy's statement? Here's a look:
"Phil has played well in parts this year. He came really close to winning the PGA. He's had a few good — I feel like he's gotten a little better as the year has went on," McIlroy said.
"But it's a lot of golf for him to play in such a short space of time. So you could see he was getting a little tired the last couple of weeks. And, I mean, Tiger's not here just because he's been injured or he is injured. He hasn't had the opportunity to play.
"But I think if he gets back and when he gets back to full fitness, you'll see him back here again. So I'm not sure — they're just getting older. Phil's 43 or whatever he is and Tiger's nearly 40. So they're getting into the sort of last few holes of their career. And that's what happens. You get injured. Phil has to deal with an arthritic condition as well. So it obviously just gets harder as you get older. I'll be able to tell you in 20 years how it feels."
McIlroy has since turned to his Twitter account to defend his comments:
He added this tweet moments later:
Why is McIlroy apologizing? Was there anything not factual or honest? Anyone offended by the comments is taking them out of context and making a controversy out of nothing.
McIlroy has slipped before, but this is not one of those cases.
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