Rory McIlroy subject to brutal dig from tennis legend as he's spotted wine in hand at US Open

Rory McIlroy was subject to a piercing dig from tennis legend John McEnroe on his visit to the US Open tennis championship .

The Northern Ireland golfer, who had just finished his PGA Tour season, was present for the semi-final clash between Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

When TV cameras caught him in the audience relishing the vibrant scene, McEnroe, on commentary duty, couldn't resist commenting on McIlroy's lengthy stretch without a fifth major golf title .

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Upon hearing a fellow commentator note that McIlroy won three of the four major golf championships , McEnroe pointedly remarked about the long gap since McIlroys last grand victory, saying: "It has been a long time!"

Meanwhile, McEnroe spied McIlroy with wine in hand and wryly observed: "Little bit of vino to ease the pain."

Further sharpening the sting, McEnroe brought up the recent US Open golf tournament where McIlroy was agonisingly close to ending his major drought , leading by two shots at Pinehurst No. 2 with just five holes to play.

Rory McIlroy's dreams of a title hit the brakes hard after a calamitous end to his game , with three bogeys in his last four holes sending him into second place, just one shot behind champion Bryson DeChambeau at Pinehurst.

McIlroy didn't hang around after DeChambeau sank the winning putt. Subsequently, McIlroy said he's taking a short sabbatical from the tour for three weeks .

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To add to McIlroys frustrations, commentator McEnroe brought up Rory's recent close shave during Fridays broadcast, commenting, " The close call he had had, was it the U.S. Open? Tough ," and added, "Tough one to lose."

Following the upset at the US Open, McIlroy wrapped up his PGA Tour year on a lower-key note , tying ninth in the FedEx Cup rank after the Tour Championship. While mulling over his season at East Lake, McIlroy owned up to the stress the year dished out, notably post-Pinehurst.

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He said: "It's been a long season. I'm going to just have to think about trying to build in a few extra breaks here and there next year and going forward . I felt like I hit a bit of a wall sort of post-US Open, and still feel a little bit of that hangover."

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