{"id":253598,"date":"2025-07-10T13:39:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T13:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/253598\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T13:39:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T13:39:15","slug":"rory-mcilroy-was-compared-to-a-disney-animal-in-viral-scottish-open-prank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/253598\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy was compared to a Disney animal in viral Scottish Open prank"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of all the compliments Rory McIlroy has received during his legendary career, this was certainly the most unique.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Northern Irishman returns to the Scottish Open<\/a> this weekend for the first time as a golf grand slam winner, and will be warmly welcomed as a British icon.<\/p>\n

\"McIlroy<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

McIlroy is returning to action in Scotland as a grand slam heroCredit: Getty\"Even<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Even as a Masters champion he won’t have as grand an entry as last yearCredit: DP World Tour<\/p>\n

Winning The Masters<\/a> in April made him just the sixth man ever to win all four golfing majors and he\u2019ll now return to the UK as an all-conquering hero.<\/p>\n

Yet whatever praise he gets at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick won\u2019t compare to a bizarre compliment that went viral last season.<\/p>\n

Entering the clubhouse ahead of the tournament, comedian Troy Hawke<\/a> was there waiting to give him a boost.<\/p>\n

The viral celebrity greeter told McIlroy: \u201cYou\u2019re like a plucky hero from an animal-based Disney adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

read more on rory mcilroy<\/p>\n

To which a baffled McIlroy simply replied: \u201cThank you,\u201d before looking towards the cameras in shock.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t the only one either, with Tyrrell Hatton<\/a> told he was the \u2018naughty Hemsworth\u2019, while Justin Rose was told: \u201cYou have the air of a man who\u2019s quiet in WhatsApp groups yet still respected as a leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawke has quickly become one of the internet\u2019s most recognisable comedians for his viral clips, taking on footballers<\/a> and Formula 1 drivers in his trademark purple gown.<\/p>\n

But with McIlroy the wordsmith may have stumbled across a surprise inspiration.<\/p>\n

Speaking during his victorious Augusta campaign in April the 36-year-old revealed a surprise new method he was using to relax between rounds.<\/p>\n

‘I watched a little bit of Premier League football this morning,\u201d the Manchester United<\/a> fan said when quizzed about his time off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"McIlroy<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

McIlroy was shocked by the complimentCredit: DP World Tour\"But<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

But it turned out he’s well aware of Disney heroes<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I actually watched \u2018Zootopia\u2019 with Poppy, very, very good movie if anyone’s interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2016 animated Disney film follows a police officer rabbit and con artist fox, a plot far from McIlroy\u2019s Masters adventure, but certainly enough to relax him to get his win over the line in a play off against Justin Rose.<\/p>\n

Explaining his mindset before the famous win, he said: \u201cThere’s a lot of anticipation and sort of anxious energy that builds up.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just want to get out there and play. So you know, with all of that, to go out and start the way I did, was amazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ll have some dinner tonight, maybe try to make it through the second episode of the third season of ‘Bridgerton.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFell asleep during episode one last night. And that’s it. Yeah, sort of put the phone away. Don’t look at it. Try not to look at it until tomorrow night.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy\u2019s new relaxation technique certainly worked out in the end, and created a storyline that could well be fitting of a Disney adventure in years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of all the compliments Rory McIlroy has received during his legendary career, this was certainly the most unique.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[823,2826,4366,4287,77274,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-253598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-disney","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-golf-news","11":"tag-rory-mcilroy","12":"tag-scottish-open","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114829221407346391","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}