A week on from the defence of his title at The Players Championship, Rory McIlroy opted for an altogether more relaxing experience by taking in some tennis at the Miami Open.
The World No.2, who placed T46 at TPC Sawgrass days after suffering a back injury, watched Ethan Quinn beat Casper Ruud on Thursday, followed by Carlos Alcaraz’s win over Joao Fonseca on Friday, where he was seen applauding the Spaniard following his victory in straight sets.
For Alcarez, that sets up a round of 32 match on Sunday against Seb Korda, brother of LPGA Tour stars Nelly and Jessica Korda.
🚨🏌🏻♂️🎾 #LOOK — Carlos Alcaraz hits his victory golf swing celebration with Rory McIlroy in attendance at the Miami Open. @TrackingRory pic.twitter.com/8EZ9DdSoe2March 21, 2026
The Hard Rock Stadium, where the tournament is taking place, is close to McIlroy’s Jupiter home, and comes at a convenient time for the star during a break in his schedule following two successive Florida-based appearances, the first one being the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
McIlroy opted against playing in the last of the Florida Swing events this week, the Valspar Championship, while he’s also not making the trip to the Memorial Park Golf Course for next week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open.
However, his visits to the Miami Open came just days before the playoffs of another venture he’s heavily involved with, TGL, which is held at the SoFi Center at Florida’s Palm Beach Gardens.
McIlroy begins the defence of his Masters title on April 9th, but unlike last year, when he tied for fifth at the Texas Children’s Houston Open two weeks before the event, he’s not expected to make another appearance before the Augusta National Major, giving him the option of more time in Florida before heading to Georgia.
It’s no real surprise that McIlroy spent some of his leisure time watching tennis, as he’s a big fan of the sport.
As well as regularly attending other events, including last August’s US Open in New York, less than three hours after his final round at the Tour Championship. McIlroy is also a casual tennis player.
Ahead of the 2025 US Open, he revealed he had started playing the sport more, including with caddie Harry Diamond.
He said: “I've started to play a lot of tennis again. Like Harry and Niall play tennis pretty much every week when we're on the road, and I've always been like, ‘I don't want to injure myself,’ whatever, but I miss not playing. So Harry and I played quite a bit of tennis last weekend, so that was good fun.”
McIlroy, who was once engaged to tennis pro Caroline Wozniacki, will be hoping his downtime taking in the Miami Open will stand him in good stead for the defence of his Masters title, where he will be looking for his sixth Major title.
