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Broken baby toes and some of the worst excuses in sport

Rory McIlroy’s toothache is just the latest in a long line.
10.00am, 2 Mar 2013

RORY MCILROY WALKED off the Palm Beach Gardens course  halfway through his second round in the Honda Classic yesterday and blamed a sore tooth for the sudden withdrawal.

The World number one isn’t the first sportsperson to give an unusual reason for performing poorly and below we’ve rounded up some of the best excuses from down the years.

Broken baby toes and some of the worst excuses in sport
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  • Jose Cardenal

    Source: PA

  • Carol Gaudie

    Source: PA

  • Damien Richardson

    Source: INPHO/Donall Farmer

  • Eamon Dunphy

  • Johnny Weir

    Source: Gregg DeGuire/PictureGroup/EMPICS Entertainment

  • Ronnie O'Sullivan

    Source: INPHO/Jonathan Porter/Presseye

  • Lighton Ndefwayl

    Source: Paul J. Bereswill/AP/Press Association Images

  • Vinny Testaverde

  • Manchester United

    Source: Matthew Ashton/EMPICS Sport

  • Alberto Contador

  • Giovanni Trapattoni's Italy

    Source: Inpho/Donal Farmer

  • David Haye

  • Steve Johnson

(This is an updated version of an article originally produced in November 2010)

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