Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay are paired together on the final day of the 2024 U.S. Open. Each enters the final round of the championship three shots off Bryson DeChambeau’s lead and is looking to make a run at what would be a meaningful major win.

McIlroy has gone a decade without winning a major after winning four in rapid succession early in his career. Ending his decade-long drought would take significant pressure off the World No. 3-ranked golfer and could instill some confidence in him.

Meanwhile, Cantlay has never won a major, so winning the U.S. Open would get him on the board. It would also improve his legacy, which has been marred by his inability to perform well consistently at majors (he had just four top-10 finishes in his 29 major appearances before the 2024 U.S. Open.)

These dramatic storylines will spotlight the Cantlay-McIlroy pairing, but there is another layer to their playing the final round together. The two golfers aren’t exactly big fans of one another, so many will wonder if any tensions will exist between the two during play Sunday.

Here’s what to know about the testy relationship between Catnlay and McIlroy.

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Patrick Cantlay vs. Rory McIlroy beef history, explained

Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy at the 2023 Ryder Cup

The beef between McIlroy and Cantlay originated, in earnest, at the 2023 Ryder Cup. Cantlay and Wyndham Clark were playing a doubles match against McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick, and there was a lot of crowd noise during their round.

The reason for that? European fans were heckling Cantlay, who refused to wear a hat to protest that Team USA golfers were not being paid for their participation in the international event.

That wasn’t too much of a problem until the 18th green. Cantlay made a clutch birdie putt to put the Americans ahead in the match. McIlroy and Fitzpatrick still had birdie putts to effort a tie, but they couldn’t sink them.

McIlroy felt like there were two reasons for that. First, Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava, spent a long time celebrating his player’s make. He remained in McIlroy’s way as the Northern Irishman was trying to read his potential game-tying birdie putt, which irked him.

The other issue was related to the crowd noise, which McIlroy accused Cantlay of doing little to stifle.

“Here’s what angered me,” McIlroy told The Irish Independent of the situation. “My relationship with Cantlay is average at best. We don’t have a ton in common and see the world quite differently. But when I saw he was getting stick on the 17th and 18th greens, I tried to quieten the crowd for him. And I don’t think Fitz and I were afforded the same opportunity to try and hole those putts to halve the match.”

McIlroy’s anger boiled over off the course as well. He was caught on video trading verbal barbs with American caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay and admitted he also exchanged words with Brooks Koepka’s caddie (Ricky Elliott) and swing coach (Claude Harmon).

“I start having a go at them,” McIlroy explained to the Irish Independent. “‘Joe LaCava used to be a nice guy when he was caddying for Tiger, and now he’s caddying for that d—k he’s turned into a…'”

McIlroy didn’t finish his thought, but it was clear he was hot after what happened in his dropped match against Cantlay and Clark.

Cantlay downplayed McIlroy’s barb when asked about it.

“Yeah, I saw that. I think it was taken out of context,” Cantlay told Golf.com. “And that’s kind of the world we live in, where the headline drives the story.”

MORE: Rory McIlroy reconciles with wife, Erica Stoll, after near divorce

Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy’s PGA Tour policy board relationship

Beyond their feud at the Ryder Cup, Cantlay and McIlroy were also both on the PGA Tour’s policy board before McIlroy resigned from it in 2023.

McIlroy’s resignation came after the PGA Tour’s leadership surprisingly announced a planned merger with the Public Investment Fund (PIF). The Saudi-backed ground had funded LIV Golf and fueled part of golf’s great schism.

McIlroy has since softened his stance on the PIF and PGA Tour partnership while highlighting his desire to make golf a global game. That led to his desire to rejoin the policy board to replace Webb Simpson.

However, that never quite developed, as McIlroy explained the Wells Fargo Championship.

“There’s been a lot of conversations,” McIlroy said, per Golf.com. “Sort of reminded me partly why I didn’t [stay on the board]. So yeah, I think it got pretty complicated and pretty messy.

“I think with the way it happened, I think it opened up some old wounds and scar tissue from things that have happened before. I think there was a subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason.”

Cantlay was a part of that subset along with Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth, according to Joel Beall of Golf Digest.

Cantlay was asked about his relationship with McIlroy on the policy board after the duo’s tiff at the Ryder Cup.

“I think we’re both highly competitive and we’re both trying to be the absolute best,” Cantlay told Golf.com. I think we both admire that part of each other. As far as the Policy Board goes, we’ve worked really closely together and had a really good working relationship over my year on the board.

“Look, I talked to him post-Ryder Cup and, you know, everything was cordial and all good.”

Perhaps both Cantlay and McIlroy are OK with where their relationship is at, but it’s clear that there is tension between the two parties. We’ll soon see if that carries over to the course during the final round of the 2024 U.S. Open.