Two months after he made his decision not to compete at the Rio Olympics, Rory McIlroy is still being asked about the tournament.
The Northern Irish golfer decided not to take part in the Olympic golf tournament, the first time the sport was included in the Games in over 100 years, citing concerns over the Zika virus.
McIlroy was more candid when discussing the topic of golf at the Olympics ahead of the Open Championship in July.
“I’ll watch the Olympics, but probably not golf,” the 27-year-old said. “I’ll watch track and field, swimming, diving – you know, ones that matter.”
Rory McIlroy will watch the Olympics, but probably not the golf https://t.co/zosFuASlsN
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 12, 2016
However, McIlroy tuned-in to see Justin Rose take gold, and congratulated the British golfer via text message.
“He was very, very proud and said he was rooting for me and could see how much it meant to me,” Rose said. “He was very complimentary – and yeah, obviously he did watch.”
Rory McIlroy appears to have changed his tune on Olympic golf https://t.co/CK85DEweEY
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 16, 2016
McIlroy’s conversion to Olympic took another step this week, as the Northern Irishman admitted that he was “somewhat proven wrong” by the success of the tournament in Rio. The final round was played in-front of a packed crowd, a rarity for any event at the Rio Games, including the track and field event, the centre-piece for any Olympics.
McIlroy admitted he was pleasantly surprised by the tournament.
“I saw Henrik (Stenson) and Justin’s fairway woods at the last and I saw the chip shots and I saw the putts and I saw the medal ceremony,” McIlroy said ahead of first FedEx Cup play-off event at Bethpage Black in New York.
“Actually I spent the weekend in my in-laws cabin in upstate New York where there was no TV, no electricity. But we got back Sunday afternoon, so caught up with it.
“Obviously it pleasantly surprised me. There was more people at the golf events than there was at the athletics. It was good to see, it really was. It seems like it was a great atmosphere down there. I think it was one of the cheaper tickets as well, and I think that encouraged a lot of people to go.
“It was well supported down there and I think Justin was a great winner. He was on board from the start. You go back years and see his quotes about it, and he was really excited to play and looking forward to play. So I think it was the right winner in the end, as well.
“It was nice to be proven wrong somewhat in terms of… like I thought golf was sort of going to get lost a little bit. It was away from the village; I thought it was going to just sort of blend in with everything else and be, not forgotten about, but just one of a lot of sports that are there obviously. But to see the crowds and see the turnout, I was glad to be somewhat proven wrong.”
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