Reigning champion Rory McIlroy is the most notable absentee from the opening day of The Open Championship at St Andrews, with Sport360 discovering further details of how the injury that has kept him out occurred. 

– The Open: Sport360’s interactive guide to St Andrews
– #360LIVE: The Open – Leaderboard, updates & videos
– Injured Rory McIlroy turned to Tiger Woods for advice

World No. 1 McIlroy announced on Instagram last week that he had suffered a “total rupture of the left ATFL” while playing football with friends. 

And a source close to McIlroy has revealed to Sport360 that the 26-year-old was not the victim of an ill-timed tackle but actually injured himself while making a challenge. 

“Understandably, Rory just wants to be as normal as possible when he goes back home to Northern Ireland and that includes often playing football with his mates,” the source told Sport360. 

“None of the guys who play would ever go in hard on him, if anything they take it easy because they know how bad it would be if they injured him!

“The injury was 100 percent Rory’s own fault. He went into the back of one of the lads to tackle him but ended up going over on his own ankle.

“It wasn’t quite Gascoigne-esque but it was definitely self-inflicted. Even worse was the fact the guy he tackled scored anyway! 

“I don’t think he should be criticised for it though – you see tennis players and cricketers playing football in their spare time, it was just an unfortunate accident.”

It is as yet unclear whether McIlroy will be able to return to action this year.