8am Round-Up: Rory McIlroy '˜cried' watching Sergio Garcia win Masters

Rory McIlroy signs autographs in the build up to this week's Players Championship at Sawgrass. Picture: Getty Images

“I cried, it was unbelievable,” said world No 2 McIlroy at his press conference for this week’s Players Championship at Sawgrass.

“For all Justin (Rose) is a good friend of mine, after all that Sergio has been through in the majors, it was just such a special moment. And look, I have got goosebumps talking about it now.”

Garcia finally became a major winner on his 74th attempt, claiming the Green Jacket on the day fellow Spaniard Seve Ballesteros would have turned 60.

“I had rushed home to the house we had in Augusta to watch the final few holes on TV after I’d finished,” added McIlroy. “I don’t know what speed I was doing, but it was just such a great climax to the tournament.

“It was a great story. I don’t think it could have really went any better than it did.

“The first time I saw him (Garcia) was when he got into our wedding on Friday night. I gave him the biggest bear hug, (and said), ‘This is unbelievable!’”

Garcia, meanwhile, has ruled out the possibility of wearing his new coveted coat when he gets married himself in the summer.

“No, I don’t think I will be wearing the Masters jacket,” he said. “The jacket is very special, but our wedding is its own special part of our lives.

“It wouldn’t be the right way to go there. So I will be wearing just a normal suit”.

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Danny Willett has revealed he split with caddie Jonathan Smart because ‘things are a bit stale.’

The pair have long been friends but had a disagreement during April’s RBC Heritage event, with Willett eventually missing the cut.

Willett, last year’s Masters champion, told BBC Sport: “Things are a bit stale and kind of fizzled out.

‘It is a shame. But things happen and change, everything happens for a reason.’

Willett will have another close friend, Sam Haywood, on his bag at the Players Championship.

“Sam knows my game really well. We’ve played a lot of golf together over the last 10 or 15 years,” he added.

“It’s nice having someone who you can speak frankly with. He knows where my game is and when it’s good. I think it’s going to be good.”

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The PGA Tour and FedEx have agreed on a new 10-year contract extension with the American shipping giant sponsoring the FedEx Cup and the four-tournament playoffs through 2027.

The courier services company, which partnered the PGA Tour in 1985, started the season-long FedEx Cup competition in 2007 with the winner receiving $35 million in bonus money.

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Paul Lawrie is among 10 Scots teeing it up tomorrow in the Open de Portugal, a co-sanctioned event between the European Tour and Challenge Tour.

“Back nine is good and condition is excellent,” wrote Lawrie on Twitter of Morgado Golf Resort, venue for the €500,000 tournament.

Joining the Aberdonian in title chase are David Drysdale, Duncan Stewart, Scott Henry, Craig Lee, Grant Forrest, Ross Kellett, Bradley Neil, David Law and Ewen Ferguson.

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Calum Macaulay has dusted down his clubs to join a posse of Scots in the field for this week’s PGA EuroPro Tour event in Ireland.

Macaulay, who helped Scotland lift the Eisenhower Trophy in his amateur days, is making a rare outing these days in the Great National Hotels Irish Masters at Ballykisteen.

Among those joining him in the field are Tartan Tour No 1 Greig Hutcheon and John Henry, who got in the mix in the opening event of the season on the third-tier circuit at Close House a fortnight ago.

Also in the line-up are Wallace Booth, Daniel Hendry, Sean Lawrie, Neil Henderson, Louis Gaughan, Danny Kay, Lawrence Allan, Paul Shields, Conor O’Neil, Paul Robinson, Craig Lawrie, Ryan Campbell, John Gallagher, John Duff and Jay Taylor.

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West Linton’s Gareth Wright and Braid Hills Golf Centre-attached Paul McKechnie share the lead at the halfway stage in the Tartan Tour’s 36-hole Order of Merit event at Rowallan Castle.

The pair carded matching two-under-par 69s at the Ayrshire venue to sit one shot clear of three players - Gavin Hay (Grantown on Spey), Scott Henderson (Kings Links) and Chris McMaster (Downfield).

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James Byrne was lying in sixth spot heading into the MENA Tour’s Mountain Creek Open in Thailand.

It followed the Banchory man posting opening rounds of 72 and 68 for a four-under-par total, seven shots behind leader Lionel Weber from France.

Clarke Lutton, the only other Scot in the field, missed the cut by two shots after rounds of 73 and 79.