Golfing superstar Rory McIlroy has revealed an amusing tale from the days leading up to the Open Championship at St Andrew’s earlier this year, fearing the worst for fellow legend of the sport, Tiger Woods.
The two legends of the sport have become quite close in recent years, and the closer quarters involved in continuing competition throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt been a part of that.
Paired up for a charity event the week before the Open Championship, McIlroy and Woods played alongside one another in a special moment in Woods’ recovery from his horrifying car accident back in February 2021.
The pair took a helicopter trip to another course in Ireland to continue their preparations, but later that day McIlroy began feeling unwell – symptoms of what was soon revealed to be a bout of COVID-19.
“Tiger needed a rest on Wednesday. We had played two days of golf at Adare [Manor] and the plan was to play Ballybunion on Thursday. I woke up that morning feeling a bit achy but didn’t really think anything of it,” McIlroy said in an interview with The Independent.
What followed for the Irish champion was a two-hour sleep, after which he woke up aching all over and running a wicked fever, classic symptoms of COVID-19, so he called Woods to let him know.
“I rang Tiger: ‘I’m not feeling so good here.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, I feel okay.’ But he texted me at 10 o’clock that night, chills, fever, and I’m like, ‘F—ing hell, I’ve just given Tiger COVID! This is horrendous!'” McIlroy said with a chuckle. “So we both had COVID going into The Open.”
Fortunately, both recovered in time to compete at the tournament. If they hadn’t Woods wouldn’t have received the memorable standing ovation crossing the Swilcan Bridge in Round 2.
