Justin Thomas' reason for 'hated each other' Rory McIlroy comments his wife understands

Justin Thomas revealed he and Rory McIlroy briefly "hated each other" while competing at the Ryder Cup. But the former world No. 1 backtracked by saying he would feel the same even if he hypothetically came up against his own wife during the competition.

Thomas, 32, is a key player for Team USA and has experienced glory in the prestigious Ryder Cup in the form of wins in both 2018 and 2021. The two-time major winner's impressive record in the event stands at 7-4-2, though the 2023 Ryder Cup didn't go to plan as McIlroy and Team Europe clinched victory with a score of 16½ -11½. That was despite the Louisville star contributing valuable points for his team by securing half a point in the four-ball and a full point in the singles, where he enjoys an unbeaten streak.

The pressure and seriousness of the Ryder Cup meant Thomas had to put all niceties aside when coming up against McIlroy, who is one of his close friends on the PGA Tour, revealing that he was forced to hate the Northern Irishman for the duration of their intense singles match in 2018. McIlroy suffered a meltdown on that occasion, leading to his defeat.

Thomas said in 2023: "I would say I would just kind of channel the things that I feel because it's nothing personal. Rory is a great example. I love Rory. We get along extremely well.

"He's been a role model of mine. He was super nice to me when I was first starting up. He still is. We see each other a bunch. Yeah, we played each other in the Ryder Cup and, yeah, we hated each other for 18 holes.

"Again, it's nothing personal. It's not a dislike as a person." In a surprising twist, Thomas even claimed that if his wife, Jill, were hypothetically on the opposing side, she'd be his enemy too. He went on to add: "My wife knows; if Jill teed it up in the Ryder Cup for the other team, I'm going to try to beat her pretty bad."

The first two rounds of the 153rd Open Championship this week saw Thomas and McIlroy grouped together at Royal Portrush. Despite his recent struggles at majors, Thomas made the cut by carding one under par by the end of Friday.

He went into the final round on Sunday tied for 29th place, while an impressive surge from McIlroy saw the latter rise to T4. The American won his first PGA Tour event in three years at the RBC Heritage in April, while McIlroy completed a historic career Grand Slam the same month by finally winning the Masters.