Rory McIlroy has incredibly revealed he was hungover during his first round at the RBC Canadian Open – because he was celebrating his caddy’s birthday the night before.
McIlroy started slowly and failed to birdie the front nine, but found an extra gear after the turn and shot an impressive four-under 66 to end the day in a tie for third place.
He told reporters after the round that he felt “groggy” after celebrating Harry Diamond’s birthday – Diamond is a childhood friend of McIlroy.
It is the first tournament McIlroy has competed in since the PGA Championship, where days before the start it emerged that he had filed for divorce from Erica Stoll after seven years of marriage. Diamond was McIlroy’s best man for the wedding.
Ironically, McIlroy hit a wayward tee shot into a catering tent on the 17th hole.
Rory McIlroy was hungover during his first round match at the RBC Canadian Open on Thursday
McIlroy celebrated his caddie Harry Diamond’s (right) birthday the night before.
World number 3 McIlroy filed for divorce from Erica Stoll (right) just over two weeks ago.
“I was obviously hitting the hospitality industry and some guy yelled, ‘You need a wristband to get in here!’ – so that was kind of funny,” McIlroy said.
Incredibly, the Northern Irishman said this was the first time he had seen the back nine of the course.
‘I played the back nine blind. Didn’t see the back nine. Only played the front nine in the pro-am. I was actually happy enough to get away from there on level terms and not make a bogey.
“But once I got those nine holes out of the way, I knew there were some opportunities on that front and I probably played a lot better on that front. Four birdies there, no bogeys, was a good day’s work.
“I missed a few too – I had that three-putt on the par-5 fourth hole – but other than that I felt like I putted really, really nicely. So hopefully I can keep that going for the next few days.”
McIlroy has not spoken publicly about his divorce from Stoll. As it turned out, the couple would split just a day after he won the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in North Carolina.
But DailyMail.Com reported this week that the four-time major winner had hired a police officer to deliver divorce papers to Stoll’s home.
Stoll, a native of upstate New York, was served the legal documents by Carl Woods – a Palm Beach police officer who is also leading a lawsuit on behalf of the firm CW Services & Associates, according to court documents.
Woods showed up unannounced at the McIlroys’ lavish $22 million mansion in Jupiter, Florida, on May 13 at 10:30 a.m. ET and presented Stoll with a copy of McIlroy’s divorce petition.
McIlroy digitally signed the divorce papers on May 9 while competing at Quail Hollow, which he won by defeating Xander Schauffele by five shots
MORE TO FOLLOW