Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy were on the European team that won the 2023 Ryder Cup earlier in October at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome. Recently, Lowry attended a podcast and recalled his pal McIlroy’s brawl with Justin Thomas‘ caddie, Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay, in the parking lot.
In a video shared by BBC 5 Live Sport, Shane Lowry recalled the entire course of the event that happened in the parking lot of the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome. He said that Rory McIlroy was already in a bad mood, and they were planning to travel back together. There, he got involved in a verbal fight with Mackay, which Lowry tried to handle.
“I think Rory [McIlroy] arrived up, we decided that we were going to travel back together. Because we just wanted to be together and talk about stuff. So myself and Rory and Wendy and Erica walked out of the car an then Rory’s saw red. He’s seen an American. It was… which happened to be [Jim] Bones [Mackay]. It could’ve been anybody. And he kind of lost it with Bones and said a few things, he probably shouldn’t have,” Lowry said.
Later on, Shane Lowry shared what he said to Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay. He also shared what he said to Patrick Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava, when they were playing on the 18th green at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in the 2023 Ryder Cup.
“But you know, we were all. That’s what it does to you. That’s what the Ryder Cup does to you and that’s what it means to him, I suppose. I got Rory in the car and I… I just said to Bones, I said, ‘Look it’s… whatever happened out there wasn’t cool.’ And that’s just, you know, I mean we, I said to Joe [LaCava] on the 18th green, that’s why I went back over to him. I said, ‘Joe, look, I was, I was in Whistling Straits. We got beaten by, whatever, we got beaten by ten points or whatever we did in Whistling Straits.’ So I’m like, ‘We got absolutely hammered and we took everything we got on the chin that week’.”
“Rory saw red and I got him in the car”
@ShaneLowryGolf had to restrain Rory McIlroy after a car park confrontation at the #RyderCup
Listen on @BBCSounds ⤵️https://t.co/sSzlvIo1EQ#BBCGolf pic.twitter.com/fIWOT244Z7
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) December 22, 2023
When Rory McIlroy Got Involved in a Verbal Fight With the American Team’s Caddies
During the second day of the 2023 Ryder Cup at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick were up against Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark in the afternoon fourballs match. While the American duo had already secured the win for their team, Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava, was waving his hat as a gesture of celebration. That time, McIlroy had to gear up for his next putt on the 18th green and asked the caddie to clear the way. However, as the course of events followed, they were eventually caught up in a verbal spat.
Later on that evening, when the players of both teams were travelling back, Rory McIlroy got furious over Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay. At first, he shouted at the caddie and used a series of swear words.
Rory McIlroy says he regrets his outburst directed at Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay at the Ryder Cup: “He’s coming over to try and diffuse the situation. But he’s wearing an American top, and I know he’s friends with Joe, and I just tripped. Complete rage. I felt bad about it afterwards… pic.twitter.com/Ng8JIYKyKS
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) November 12, 2023
Rory McIlroy’s agent confirmed that it was because of the events that happened on the 18th green of the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. Later on, after a few months, the Northern Irishman repented for his actions and the choice of words that he used against Mackay.
All in all, it was chaos this year at the Ryder Cup, with controversies traversing the biennial tournament, be it the HatGate or the McIlroy-Joe LaCava spat. But in the end, the European team came out victorious, leaving the Americans dismayed for another two years.
