Rory McIlroy Clears the Air From Ryder Cup Dust Up: ‘We’re All Friends Now’

Chalk it up to the heat of the moment.

The verbal confrontation between Rory McIlroy, who has proven to be quite the fierce competitor on the golf course, and Joe LaCava, caddie to Patrick Cantlay, that began on the course and spilled into the parking lot (and included fellow caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay) after Saturday’s matches was one of the enduring images of this year’s Ryder Cup.

In an interview with the BBC, however, McIlroy said that the feud was quickly settled.

“Things happen in the heat of the moment, tensions were high,” McIlroy said. “Joe LaCava came into the European team room on Sunday night and had a drink and a chat. I’ve had a great relationship with Joe over the years when he caddied for Tiger, and that wasn’t going to change.”

“We’re all friends now.”

Rory McIlroy says dispute with Joe LaCava settled:https://t.co/ZfcLecx3ie

— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) October 23, 2023

McIlroy did say that he wanted to wait until the competition was over before dealing with what could have been a distraction to take his focus away from recapturing the Ryder Cup for Team Europe.

“For me, the incident happened, I purposely didn’t want to meet anyone on the Sunday morning because I wanted what had happened to fuel me for that day. My whole focus was let’s make sure Europe win the Ryder Cup and then we will sort all the other stuff out afterwards. And it’s all fine. We’re all friends now.”

In addition to the drink he had with LaCava, McIlroy said that he had many more drinks after winning the Ryder Cup.

Rory McIlroy ‘needed a week to recover’ after wild Ryder Cup celebrations https://t.co/RKdWEF91Kj pic.twitter.com/Q7IBffslEs

— Belfast Live Sport (@BelLiveSport) October 23, 2023

The issue on the course that Saturday stemmed from a celebration where LaCava was waving his hat in an exaggerated manner after Cantlay’s team won their match, and it continued while McIlroy was trying to line up his putt. The hat-waving was in response to the fans at Marco Simone Golf Club in Italy waving their hats in a mocking manner at Cantlay, who was not wearing a Team USA hat.

Cover Image via Golf Magazine