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Rory McIlroy has quit Twitter indefinitely following his row with Steve Elkington last month.
After the four-time major winner’s early exit from the US Open, 1995 PGA champion Elkington tweeted that McIlroy was ‘bored’ with golf, resulting in a bit of back-and-forth between the two.
Three weeks on, McIlroy has admitted that the Aussie’s remarks did get to him and, as a result, no longer has access to his Twitter account. Why? Well, he asked his wife Erica to change the password and not tell him.
“I must have wrote that tweet and deleted it about five times before I actually sent it,” he explained. “It’s one of those things. I sort of regret sending it. I actually gave my wife, Erica, my phone and my Twitter and told her, ‘Change my password to something else and don’t tell me what it is’.
More like 200mil... not bad for a "bored" 28 year old... plenty more where that came from. pic.twitter.com/R2nigEaee7
— Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) June 17, 2017
That's why jack designed 100's of golf courses... and it's knew... mustn't have taught grammar in the 50's....
— Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) June 17, 2017
“So as of the time being, I’m off social media just because of that reason. I don’t need to read it. It’s stuff that shouldn’t get to you and sometimes it does.”
McIlroy, who is teeing it up at the Irish Open this week, also added that the reason the remark particularly struck a nerve was due to Elkington’s status as a major-winning golfer.
“It’s not what was said,” added McIlroy. “It was who said it and anyone that’s been in that environment should realise how hard golf is at times, and I think that’s the thing that got to me more than anything else.
“If it was written by a member of the media or something, I could let it slide, because I can sort of say to myself, they don’t really know how it is and they don’t know what you have to deal with. But a former player that has won a major and been successful; that’s why it got to me and why I retaliated a little bit.”
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