Rory McIlroy Proven Wrong About Olympics

The world number 5 was speaking before The Barclays tournament in New York

Rory McIlroy Proven Wrong About Golf in the Olympics
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Rory McIlroy Proven Wrong About Golf in the Olympics after previously saying he would only watch "the stuff that mattered"

Rory McIlroy Proven Wrong About Golf in the Olympics

World number five Rory McIlroy has admitted that he was proven wrong about golf in the Olympics.

Justin Rose won the men's tournament whilst Inbee Park won the women's. Both events received widespread fanfare and were hugely successful in regards of the spectator numbers and the standard of play as golf made its Olympics return after 112 years.

Rory McIlroy Proven Wrong About Golf in the Olympics

McIlroy plays The Barclays this week in his first event since missing the cut in the USPGA

The Ulsterman initially pulled out of the Games back in June due to concerns over the zika virus.

Related: What clubs will Rory use now Nike are stopping club production?

Speaking before this week's Barclays tournament in New York, Rory said: "To see the crowds and see the turnout, I was glad to be somewhat proven wrong.

"There was more people at the golf events than there was at the athletics. It was good to see."

"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.

Related: Rory McIlroy spotted testing new Scotty Cameron putter

"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."

McIlroy had previously said that "most other athletes dream their whole lives about winning an Olympic gold. We haven’t. We dream about winning Claret Jugs and Green Jackets"

Related: What am I saying? Rory McIlroy's top clangers over the years

He then went on to say he'd only watch the “track and field, swimming, diving… the stuff that matters”. However, it sounds like he may have caught some of the action.

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Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!

Elliott is currently playing:

Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV