Rory McIlroy hits back at Bryson DeChambeau over Masters ‘snub’

Rory McIlroy’s says he didn’t know what Bryson DeChambeau was expecting after his apparent “snub” in the final round of the Masters.

McIlroy made a conscious choice not to interact with DeChambeau during his history-making Sunday at Augusta National – and it appeared that the US Open champion took exception to that decision.

“Didn’t talk to me once all day,” DeChambeau said after stuttering to a final round 75 in what was billed as a blockbuster Masters showdown between the pair.

“He was just like – just being focused, I guess. It’s not me, though.”

But as McIlroy’s sports psychologist Bob Rotella revealed afterwards, that was always the game plan.

“Didn’t have anything to do with Bryson,” Rotella told BBC Radio 4. “That was just the game plan all week and we wanted to get lost in it.

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“We didn’t want to pay attention to what anyone else was scoring, or shooting, or swinging or how far they were hitting it – we just wanted Rory to play his game.”

And with a major on the line, McIlroy couldn’t see what the fuss was about.

“I don’t know what he was expecting,” he said, when asked about DeChambeau’s comments ahead of this week’s PGA Championship.

“We’re trying to win the Masters. I’m not going to try and be his best mate out there.

“Everyone approaches the game in different ways and I was focused on myself and what I needed to do and that’s all that it was.

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“It wasn’t anything against him. I felt that’s what I needed to do to get the best out of myself that day.”

This emerging McIlroy and DeChambeau rivalry could well reignite this week at Quail Hollow.

The two superstars of their respective tours – the PGA Tour and LIV Golf – are among the big favourites heading into the second major of the season.

McIlroy is a four-time winner at the regular PGA Tour stop, while DeChambeau has seriously contended in four of the past five majors.

“I think it’s a golf course that sets up for his shot shapes pretty well, and I think it sets up well for mine, too,” DeChambeau said. “We’ll see. Maybe I do well, maybe I don’t.

“But I’m certainly going to give it my all, and I know Rory is. Hopefully we can have another go at it again like The Masters.”

This, however, doesn’t exactly have the feel of a major championship week for a liberated McIlroy on a course he knows so well.

“I thought it was going to feel different just because it was a major championship, and I got out on the golf course yesterday, and it felt no different than last year at the Wells Fargo,” he admitted.

“The rough is maybe a little juicier. But fairways are still the same cut lines and same visuals. It doesn’t feel that much different.

“Hopefully the weather clears up a little bit and the course can dry out a bit. Excited to tee it up in another PGA Championship and give myself another opportunity.”

Ben Parsons is the Senior Writer at bunkered and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.