Rory McIlroy might have delighted most of the golfing world by winning The Masters but even in his highest moments, there’s always some sort of controversy following him.
McIlroy got over the line in a playoff with Justin Rose and in jubilant scenes afterwards, there was plenty of reaction.
However, while most of it was positive, former European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley caused a bit of a stir by saying the line ‘he’s not everyone’s cup of tea’ in his analysis.
Since then, McGinley has posted on social media to try and explain himself.
But with that explanation seemingly not hitting the mark, McGinley has now gone into more detail to explain exactly what he meant, and clarified just how much he loved seeing Rory win.
Paul McGinley clarifies comments on Rory McIlroy after Masters criticism
With McGinley being such a big follower and lover of Rory McIlroy, his flippant comment about McIlroy not being everyone’s favourite did seem a bit odd.
However, it has also been blown way out of proportion as well and McGinley has once again tried to explain himself on the Beyond the Clubhouse podcast.
“On reflection, live TV and the excitement of the moment, it was probably the wrong term to use. What I was trying to do was praise two different dynamic in his redemption story on the backdrop of the criticism that he constantly got for the last 10 years, particularly in the last two or three. And the criticism which came his way after Pinehurst. It was very personal. I know he felt that,” McGinley explained.
“I wanted to use that as a backdrop to say, look, this guy has come through in the heat of the moment against all the odds, where mentally he was on the floor and somehow he dragged himself off of it to get back into the playoff and finish strongly in terms of making a birdie on the playoff hole to get over the line.
“And I was trying to use the two things to show the human element here because the audience we had on Sky was not just the Sky one that wanted to know about stats. It was a much bigger one, people who don’t usually tune into golf, and I wanted to represent for them the human element of what Rory has done and the criticism that has come his way.
“It was the wrong term to use ‘he’s not everybody’s cup of tea’ I meant to say the criticism which has come his way, that is what I should have done on reflection. But the heat of the moment and on live TV, I still didn’t think it was a massive deal as he has been so heavily criticised.
“But, of course, social media takes it and blows it up like I didn’t want Rory to win. You know me, anybody who has watched any golf TV or anything over the last 10 years will know that I have been the number one fan in his corner and defended him so strongly in so many different ways.”
Admitting how he felt about the impact of his words, McGinley conceded the reaction to the situation has hurt him.
“That one really hurt me because I thought don’t tell me in the hour of Rory’s success that I am going to be seen as the guy who didn’t want him to win. It’s like are you kidding me?
“So I felt the need to. Normally I don’t react to anything on social media but I felt the need, I had to go out and correct the narrative there because it was getting out of hand that people thought that by saying he’s not everybody’s cup of tea that I was in that camp. I mean, honestly, it’s a difficult world of media now it really is.”
Rory McIlroy no stranger to criticism and big stories about him
Paul McGinley clearly feels bad about the situation here and he admits it was a poor choice of words and in reality, he’s probably reached out to McIlroy.
Indeed, there’s a chance McIlroy hasn’t even noticed – or cares – given everything else that has gone on since the weekend.
However, being Rory McIlroy, he is no stranger to big news stories blowing up out of nowhere and then being jumped on by fans around the world.
Come his next tournament, there’ll no doubt be a mention of this but it would be a huge surprise if McIlroy digs McGinley out at all.
If he does, then the mini war between some of golf’s media and the pros will go to another level.
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