Rory McIlory is the #1 ranked golfer in the world and was working on defending his title at the Honda Classic when the unthinkable happened. McIlroy was 7 over thru 8 holes, and after his second shot on the par 5 18th found the water, McIlroy walked to his car without putting out. This raised a ton of questions about Rory obviously, and the AP’s Doug Ferguson tweeted this:
This is all very strange, but it got even stranger when McIlroy finally issued an official statement:
“I sincerely apologize the The Honda Classic and PGA Tour for my sudden withdrawal. I have been suffering with a sore wisdom tooth, which is due to come out in the near future. It began bothering me again last night, so I relieved it with Advil. It was very painful again this morning, and I was simply unable to concentrate. It was really bothering me and had begun to affect my playing partners. I came here with every intention of defending my Honda Classic title. Even though the results haven’t revealed it, I really felt like I was rounding a corner. This is one of my favorite tournaments of the year and I regret having to make the decision to withdraw, but it was one I had to make.”
This seems all very strange to me, and it’s pretty unprecedented that a toothache would send a golfer running from the course. Perhaps it was actually the Nike clubs that he switched to that was the reason he was so uncomfortable on the golf course Friday.
[Yahoo Sports]