MIAMI — World No. 1 Rory McIlroy acknowledged Wednesday he was wrong to walk off mid-round at last week's Honda Classic and said his toothache was not bad enough to justify quitting the tournament. Facing the media for the first time since his controversial withdrawal at PGA National, McIlroy said it soon dawned on him that he had made the wrong decision. “Obviously I've had a lot of time to think about it. I realized pretty quickly that it wasn't the right thing to do,” he told a news conference ahead of Thursday's first round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship. “No matter how bad I was playing, I should have stayed out there. I should have tried to shoot the best score possible even though it probably wasn't going to be good enough to make the cut,” he said, referring to his ill-fated second round where he played the first eight holes at seven over-par before quitting. McIlroy initially told reporters Friday as he was heading to his car that he was not in a “good place mentally” and then later a statement cited pain from his wisdom tooth. Asked which version was the truer reflection of the reason for his withdrawal, McIlroy said both were factors but that his tooth pain was not enough of a reason. “Both. I wasn't in a good place with my golf game. I was, you know, mentally - you know, my head was all over the place. “But at the same time, I have been struggling with my lower right wisdom tooth for over a year. “So, yeah, look, my tooth was bothering me, but it wasn't bothering me enough to probably, you know, quit, but, that's just the way it is,” said the Northern Irishman, who is paired with Tiger Woods and England's Luke Donald Thursday and Friday at Doral's Blue Monster course. Els regrets not talking to McIlroy British Open champion Ernie Els says he regrets not advising McIlroy against walking out but understands the pressure the world No. 1 is feeling. “I must say, when I shook his hand on 18, I wanted to say something to him, but I didn't, and I kind of regret that. It was obviously a heat of the moment thing. He is who he is. You've got to respect what the individual at that moment is like, and he wanted to get off,” Els told a news conference. “We obviously heard that his wisdom tooth was bothering him, and if that was the reason, that was that. I would have been out of my depth at that stage to say something to him if something was bothering him. So I didn't, but I thought I should have,” he said. McIlroy is facing intense scrutiny of his poor start to the year after switching to Nike clubs and Els, a former world No. 1 in 1997 and 1998, said the status can be a burden. “I wouldn't say lonely is the word, but you're exposed. People look at you and you're kind of the leader of the pack. In a way, you have to act accordingly. You have to show that you're No. 1 in your game. You've got to perform,” he said. “There's a lot of guys out there that want to be wherever you are. So you have to out-work them, you have to outplay them. I think that you've got to be the No. 1 player. With that there comes a lot of work and with that is a lot of stress put on your shoulders. “So you're a guy walking around with a lot more pressure than the guy that's 50th in the world, I can promise you,” he said. Els, though, offered a reminder that despite winning two major championships and rising quickly to the top of the rankings, McIlroy is still only 23 years old. “I was also 23; I'm 43 now. I look back, I did a lot of silly things and what he's done is nothing compared to what I did; just speak to my parents,” said Els. “But when it comes to being where he's at, you've got to maybe think a little bit more than two minutes. In a couple of years' time, he won't even think about this or talk about this. “If he wins this week, it will be the last thing we talk about, it will be history and that's what it should be. It's something that's happened and we should move on from that,” he said. — Reuters
