McIlroy to wife: "Change my Twitter password and don't tell me what it is"

Rory McIlroy has revealed he's asked his wife to change his Twitter password without telling him what it is following his recent social media spat with Steve Elkington.

McIlroy, speaking ahead of this week's Irish Open at Portstewart, last month destroyed Elkington in a Twitter exchange after the outspoken Australian posted the Northern Irishman "is so bored playing (sic) golf" and has become a "money guy."

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Despite his rather hilarious reply to Elkington's remarks, McIlroy told reporters in Ireland this week that he's handing his account over to his wife.

"I must have wrote that tweet and deleted it about five times before I actually sent it," said McIlroy, who starts as tournament favourite this week.

"I sort of regretted sending it at the end. I actually gave my wife Erica my phone and said, 'Change my Twitter password and don't tell me what it is.'"

McIlroy is serving as both the tournament host and defending champ this week at Portstewart Golf Club in Northern Ireland, and he explained that when it comes to social media, he's "off it for a while," noting that it's "stuff that shouldn't get to you and sometimes it does."

The Ulsterman said his issue with Elkington's original remark last month was not what was said, but rather who said it.

"Anyone that's been in that environment should realize how hard golf is at times," he added.

"If it was written by a media member or something I could let it slide, because I can sort of say to myself, 'They don't really know how it is and they don't know what you have to deal with.' But a former player that has won a major and been successful? That's sort of why it got to me and that's why I sort of retaliated a bit."