Rory McIlroy staying off Twitter after Steve Elkington spat

Rory McIlroy's social media spat with former US PGA champion Steve Elkington has led to the Northern Irishman staying away from Twitter . . . for the moment at least!

McIlroy, the world number four, reacted angrily to the Australian’s claim that he was “bored” of golf after missing the cut in the recent US Open at Erin Hills and responded by quoting the number of titles and the amount of money – over $200 million – which he’d earned.

“I must have wrote that tweet and deleted it about five times before I actually sent it. It’s one of those things. I sort of regret sending it at the end but I actually gave my wife, Erica, my phone and my Twitter and told her, ‘change my password to something else and don’t tell me what it is’. I’m off social media just because of that reason. I don’t need to read it. It’s stuff that shouldn’t get to you and sometimes it does,” said McIlroy.

McIlroy, the defending champion, has again promised to donate whatever prizemoney he wins in this week’s DDF Irish Open at Portstewart to charitable causes through his foundation. Over €1 million was raised last year, and McIlroy is aiming to hit that target again this time.

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Although his season has been disrupted by injury, McIlroy – who is starting a three-week links stint that takes in the Irish Open, Scottish Open and British Open – is set to make a strong defence of a crown he won at The K Club a year ago.

“The Irish Open is a title I’ve wanted to win since I was a young boy, and to realise that dream last year was very special. Not only because of just winning, but in the fashion that I won, and it was definitely one of the highlights of my career . . . it will be great to have a chance to defend it again and I feel like I’m playing well enough to be able to have a chance.”