Rory McIlroy has reacted angrily to Jay Townsend after the American criticised his first round performance at the Irish Open.
US Open champ in angry Twitter exchange with commentator
Rory McIlroy has reacted angrily to Jay Townsend after the American commentator criticised his first round performance at the Irish Open.
McIlroy was leading the event at Killarney Golf and Fishing Club at one point during the first round as he reached four-under-par.
But a scruffy finish to his round, including a double-bogey six at the last, saw him finish at one-under and prompted a stinging appraisal of his display from Townsend.
Shocking
Writing on
Twitter, the former PGA and European Tour player stated: "McIlroy's course management was shocking."
He went on to add: "(It was) some of the worst I have ever seen beyond under-10 boys' golf competition."
That led to an angry rebuke from McIlroy, who responded via his
Twitter account: "Shut up... you're a commentator and a failed golfer, your opinion means nothing!"
Townsend went on to claim that he stood by his comments prompting McIlroy to reply: "Well, I stand by my caddie."
That was a reference to Townsend also saying McIlroy should hire Tiger Woods's former caddie Steve Williams and ditch current bagman JP Fitzgerald.
Claiming that Townsend first started criticising Fitzgerald three years ago, McIlroy said: "This was the first time I've responded - it was the straw that broke the camel's back - but now I've blocked him on Twitter so I won't be reading anything more."
Driving issues
Speaking to
Sky Sports after his first round of 70, McIlroy insisted he knew the issues in his game which needed addressing - primarily his driving.
"Four-under through ten I was going along quite nicely, but I didn't drive the golf ball great all day and that sort of let me down a little bit and it just caught up with me at the end," he said.
"I struggled to make any birdies on the way in and to finish like that with a six isn't too nice. But I feel as if most of my game is in pretty good shape, I just have to go away and work on a couple of things.
"I just not driving the ball that good. I need to be a little bit more decisive on tees whether to hit it left to right or right to left! I'm sort of stuck in two minds so I need to work on that a bit on the range."
