Rory McIlroy is not wearing a hat during the 2024 Paris Olympics men's golf tournament, and it's become quite a hot topic, particularly on the heels of the controversy around Patrick Cantlay's refusal to wear a hat for the United States at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy.
When McIlroy, who is competing for Ireland in the his second Olympics after debuting in 2021 in Tokyo, plays golf week-to-week on the PGA Tour, he almost always wears a hat from Nike, which is his head-to-toe apparel sponsor.
However, this week at Le Golf National, he is not wearing a hat. Why?
As it turns out, Rory McIlroy isn't wearing a hat for a good reason: the ones offered to him by Team Ireland do not fit his head.
“My head is so small that I have to get Nike to make me custom hats, so whenever I’m in a team event and the hats aren’t custom, they’re all too big," McIlroy said in 2021, and he maintains today the same thing in other events where his apparel isn't provided by Nike.
This is also why McIlroy often doesn't wear a hat during the Ryder Cup, as the uniforms and clothing are not supplied by Nike.
In other words, McIlroy can't get a hat small enough to fit his head properly, so he chooses instead to not wear one. He's not looking to get paid to compete in the Olympics, as was the charge levied at Cantlay in Italy at the Ryder Cup. However, Cantlay maintained that he didn't want to have a hat tan for his weddding to Nikki Guidish, which was the Monday after the week at Marco Simone.
McIlroy is playing for Team Ireland along with good friend Shane Lowry. Although the duo are only playing in an individual men's event in the Olympics, they did team up to win the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orelans on the PGA Tour in April.
