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Rory McIlroy’s ankle injury brings out the stupid in and beyond the golf world

A Fox News personality calls Rory McIlroy a ‘leprechaun,’ reporters ask Caroline Wozniacki about her ex-fiancee and other stupid things that the world No. 1’s ankle injury has spawned.

By Emily Kay
Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Rory McIlroy’s ankle injury sparked some witty, thought-provoking and downright stupid responses on Monday. We’re going to skip over the somewhat rational stuff and get right to the dumb-asserie. Starting, of course, with Fox News.

Seems a personality on the fair and balanced network has a major issue with the current world No. 1, who (ICYMI) ripped up his ankle over the weekend playing soccer with his chums. Believing her mic to be off after a segment in which on-air talent was chatting about McIlroy possibly having to skip the British Open because of his ruptured ligament, the woman proclaimed her dislike for the lad from Northern Ireland, calling him a "leprechaun." The faceless voice also said she "can’t stand him."

Fox Outnumbered host Harris Faulkner later tweeted that the off-camera comment caught her completely off guard.

Though no other explanation has been forthcoming, others surmised that the remark had something to do with the way McIlroy, more than a year ago, dispatched of his then-fiancee, Caroline Wozniacki, in a 10-minute phone call. Speaking of the distaff half of Wozzilroy, here’s Mensa Candidate No. 2:

And then there are the folks castigating McIlroy for daring to step outside of his cocoon and, you know, doing things other than knock the crap out of a golf ball.

Others were not too keen on that notion.

With McIlroy skipping this week’s Scottish Open and questionable for the defense of his Open Championship crown at St. Andrews, medical specialists’ opinions about his prognosis range from, he should be good to go in a couple of weeks, to he’ll need surgery and could be sidelined for months. The four-time major winner will likely make no pronouncement about his status until next week, but European Tour golfer Richie Ramsay would not be surprised if McIlroy landed on the 60-day DL.

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**** Update: Fox Business Network’s Lisa "Kennedy" Montgomery takes credit for that quote about Rory McIlroy being a "leprechaun," and she wished to make clear that she was being gentle in her remarks.

On Tuesday's edition of Outnumber, Montgomery, who goes by "Kennedy" as host of the prime-time program of the same name, had this to add to the comments she made off-camera a day earlier:

"Yesterday at this time I used the word leprechaun to describe golfer Rory McIlroy. I love sports, I love golf, but I am not a fan of Rory’s. Mostly for the way he treated tennis great Caroline Wozniacki and discarded her like a piece of chewed gum when he broke her heart and broke off their engagement in a short phone conversation. That’s worse than breaking up on a Post-it.

"Now to be clear, neither Harris [Faulkner, Fox Outnumber host] nor Jenna Lee [co-host of Fox News’ Happening Now] used the term and I don’t want them to get the credit for it. I called Rory McIlroy a leprechaun and believe me I wanted to call him much worse.  As you know, some of my best friends are leprechauns and they also have tremendous sense of humor. Thank you."

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