Rory McIlroy says his split with former fiancée Caroline Wozniacki has nothing to do with his rise to the top of the golfing world.
“I may or may not have a little more time on my hands these days, but that doesn’t mean to say this is why I’m playing great golf,” the 25-year-old, and current No. 1-ranked, golfer said on the “Today” show on Tuesday. “Regardless of if I’m in any sort of relationship or not, I feel like I’m capable of great golf.”
This runs counter to statements he made during the PGA Championship, a tournament he’d go on to win, earlier this month.
“I think what happened has been for the better in terms of my golf,” McIlroy told ESPN at the time .
The Northern Irish linksman backed off from this statement during his sit-down with Willie Geist.
“That was taken out of context and spun by the media,” he said. “What I was trying to say was it’s not directly related in any way.”
In addition to the PGA Championship, McIlroy claimed the British Open in July.
Wozniacki and the golfer’s relationship ended in May, when he called off their engagement — in a minutes-long phone call she initially thought was a joke — just days after the wedding invitations had been sent out.
The split seems to have helped the tennis star’s game as well. She has gone 16-4 since the breakup and won her first tournament in nine months at the Istanbul Cup in July.