Controversies
In May 2009, McIlroy described the Ryder Cup as an "exhibition". McIlroy said: "It's not a huge goal of mine. In the big scheme of things it's not that important an event for me. It's an exhibition at the end of the day." McIlroy went on to say: "Golf is an individual sport. You have individual goals and my goals are to win tournaments for myself." European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie responded by saying that the contest "is not an exhibition and it never will be. It's a very unique, special event." The following year, in 2010, McIlroy said that he regretted his earlier comments and said that the Ryder Cup is "definitely not an exhibition".
On 17 August 2010, McIlroy answered a media question regarding Tiger Woods' potential of getting a captain's pick in the Ryder Cup (despite his poor play at the time) by saying that any member of the European Team would "fancy his chances against him".
In May 2011, McIlroy was criticised for skipping The Players Championship. The skip was controversial because 48 of the top 50 in the world participated in it, the other golfer skipping being fellow Briton Lee Westwood.
On 17 July 2011, following a poor showing over the weekend in the 2011 Open Championship, McIlroy told the media that he was "not a fan of golf tournaments that are predicted so much by the weather,", and saying he would rather "wait for a year when the weather is nice" instead of tuning his game to prepare for the Open Championship. He also added that he would "rather play when it's 80 degrees and sunny and not much wind".
On 28 July 2011, after being criticised on air by commentator Jay Townsend about McIlroy's questionable course management skills during the first round of the Irish Open, McIlroy wrote on Twitter telling Townsend to "shut up" and saying Townsend is a "failed golfer" and that "his opinion meant nothing". Later, McIlroy stood by his comments and stated that his comments were made in defence of his caddie J. P. Fitzgerald whom Townsend had been blaming for McIlroy's course management since 2008.
In February 2013, McIlroy was criticized for withdrawing from the 2013 Honda Classic, citing tooth pain. Critics claimed that tooth pain was not the issue, and that McIlroy, the world number one at the time, was having difficulty adjusting to new equipment, and that he should have finished the tournament. Regarding his withdrawal, McIlroy stated, "this is one of my favorite tournaments of the year and I regret having to make the decision to withdraw, but it was one I had to make."
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