Rory McIlroy received five apologies from opponent's caddie after embarrassing moment

Rory received five apologies from rookie caddie at the following his embarrassing error. Former quarterback Anderson inadvertently distracted the 2025 Masters champion at the 17th hole, which left him "feeling 5'1" tall".

Anderson enjoyed a 14-year career in the NFL, representing the Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals and Buffalo Bills. In that time, he was also recognised as the best golfer in the league and rubbed shoulders with several of the sport's top stars, which led to him being called upon to caddie for the first time last month. The 41-year-old stepped onto the green to aid Kevin Chappell, who partnered Tom Hoge in the duos tournament. Their opponents were defending champions Shane Lowry and McIlroy, who was taking part in his first tournament .

But it proved to be a baptism of fire for Anderson as he was caught up in an embarrassing incident involving the Northern Irishman. When asked about it on , he said in a self-deprecating tone: "Oh yeah, that was great.

"I felt 5'1" tall. Kevin hit that shot on 17 on Friday. Shane missed the hosel by an inch. I kind of walked back and I'm kind of not really sure where to go, because the flag was over there and Shane's chipping.

"I was like, 'I just want to go put this bag down, get my guy's putter. Let's get this over with.' So I go behind the green and Rory's chipping from the front-right of the green, right back at me.

"Michael Collins says something to me and I look down [to the side], I don't even know what he was saying and all of a sudden I hear Chappie (Chappell) yell from 40 yards away, 'DA, stop moving!'

"I was like, 'Oh s***.' I grabbed the bag and went right behind the camera guy and I just stood there and I froze. I thought, 'Oh my God, I don't even know what to do, what am I doing, there's all these people here.' Kinda freaking out.

"Meanwhile, Rory had stepped off the chip. Apparently, when I looked down I bothered him. And then he steps up and proceeds to lay sod over it, and I'm like 'Oh, no.' And then they made a bogey.

"As we were walking off, I tapped him with the putter like, 'I'm so sorry dude.' Going up 18, I'm just staying as far away from him as I could. I apologised to him like five times."

Anderson, who plays off scratch himself, then recalled how Lowry jokingly shouted from across the green: "It took you two days and you finally screwed it up!" As for his NFL career, he was drafted by the Ravens in 2005 before swiftly moving to the Browns. His journey continued through Arizona and took him on a seven-season tour with the Panthers before calling time on his career in Buffalo in 2019.

ESPN had revealed two years prior that Anderson hoped to compete in the Masters by winning the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. McIlroy, meanwhile, fell short of defending his Zurich Classic title with Lowry, finishing the tournament T12 and six shots behind the winning team of Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin.