Rory McIlroy has had interesting 24 hours at the Ryder Cup. After choking away a 17th-hole lead to a hatless Patrick Cantlay and co. on Saturday, McIlroy was involved in an altercation with U.S. caddie Joey LaCava, who continued to celebrate Cantlay’s match-winning birdie putt within Rory’s halo before the North Irishman had hit his potential tying putt. The two exchanged words and later McIlroy had to be restrained by Shane Lowry while arguing with an individual off camera, rumored to be LaCava.
LaCava reportedly reached out to McIlroy to apologize and set up a face-to-face détente between the pair on Sunday morning. The European fans on the first tee either didn’t care or didn’t get the memo, however, serenading Rory McIlroy with a rendition of The Cranberries’ iconic hit “Zombie” before his big singles match with Sam Burns on Sunday.
He's in your head @McIlroyRory 🎶☘️#TeamEurope | #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/FgzQBi4Gvb
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) October 1, 2023
Rory McIlroy serenaded by European fans on the first tee. #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/3cNlsb0bzQ
— Ben Smith (@bensmithgolf) October 1, 2023
There’s a missed opportunity to reimagine the “And their bombs, and their bombs…” line with “And his bombs, and his bombs” but overall it’s the best version we’ve heard since Andy Bernard belted it from his desk at Dunder Mifflin.
“He’s in your headdddd” hits especially poignant given the circumstances, taunting LaCava and the U.S. team with McIlroy’s idol-like presence throughout week. The funniest part of all this is that this song could easily be used to taunt McIlroy were the venue in America. Just replace “Rory” with “Joey” and you have an annoyance instead of a battle cry. Context is everything.
The sing-along seemed to work, with Rory defeating Sam Burns 3&1 to finish the week 4-1-0.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
