Rory McIlroy took to Twitter late last night to defend an answer he gave to question about Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods at a press conference for the Tour Championship at East Lake in Georgia.
McIlroy was asked if he felt that neither Woods or Mickelson playing in the Tour Championship for the first time in years signaled a changing of the guard in golf.
This is what he had to say.
Not really. I mean, Phil has played well in parts this year. He came really close to winning the PGA. He's had a few good -- I feel like he's gotten a little better as the year has went on.
But it's a lot of golf for him to play in such a short space of time. So you could see he was getting a little tired the last couple of weeks. And, I mean, Tiger's not here just because he's been injured or he is injured. He hasn't had the opportunity to play.
But I think if he gets back and when he gets back to full fitness, you'll see him back here again. So I'm not sure -- they're just getting older. Phil's 43 or whatever he is and Tiger's nearly 40. So they're getting into the sort of last few holes of their career. And that's what happens. You get injured. Phil has to deal with an arthritic condition as well. So it obviously just gets harder as you get older. I'll be able to tell you in 20 years how it feels.
Apart from saying that Phil is a year younger than he actually is and aging Tiger by a year, Rory didn't say anything that wasn't really true.
It did lead to headlines "McIlroy ready to call time on ‘old men’ Woods and Mickelson" from the London Independent.
The four-time major winner felt it necessary to clarify his comments.
Got a question today about Tiger and Phil... Gave an honest answer, was very complimentary about the 2 best golfers of this generation
— Rory Mcilroy (@McIlroyRory) September 10, 2014
Golfers on average have a 20-25 year career, both into the back 9 of their careers... Don't think there's anything wrong with saying that.
— Rory Mcilroy (@McIlroyRory) September 10, 2014
Keep on giving those honest answers, Rory.
Picture credit: Oliver McVeigh / SPORTSFILE
