Rory McIlroy’s major season ended quietly at Royal Birkdale, and he’s spent the days since making clear he isn’t waiting around to feel bad about it. After winning back-to-back Masters titles, the World No. 2 had been the favorite heading into the year’s remaining majors, but a T7 at the PGA Championship and a T32 at the U.S. Open never turned into the kind of run people expected, and X user Carl Kettering caught him mid-celebration in Spain instead.

“Rory McIlroy at Pacha was not on my 2026 bingo card,” Kettering wrote on X alongside a clip.

It’s unclear exactly when he arrived, but McIlroy had already said he’d be taking a break after The Open, admitting he was “stuck in neutral” for most of that week as bogeys kept stalling any momentum. He compared it to last season, when a hot start faded the same way, and said he hadn’t really taken time to enjoy the Masters win before turning his attention to family time with his wife Erica and daughter Poppy.

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His Open Championship form backed up the frustration. He carded rounds of 72, 67, 69, and 71 to finish tied for 40th at 1-under 279, opening poorly, recovering through the middle rounds, then fading again on the weekend.

Per GB News, McIlroy flew straight to Greece with fellow golfer Shane Lowry after The Open, with Lowry’s wife posting photos from the trip before McIlroy apparently made his way to Spain from there, though the exact route isn’t confirmed.

This kind of break lines up with the lighter schedule he’s chosen since completing his career grand slam, picking and choosing which events he plays rather than grinding through a full calendar. It’s also not the first time he’s been caught celebrating in public. Last year, he was spotted partying at a beach club in Saint-Tropez, joking that his green jacket was “on the yacht” when reporters asked about it mid-vacation. This time, that same green jacket is part of the reason he’s just been handed a very different kind of bill.

Rory McIlroy has been handed a $2.1M tax bill

McIlroy may have scaled back his schedule, but the tax bills haven’t gotten any smaller. He’s estimated to owe more than $2.1 million in taxes on his major winnings this year, the largest bill of any golfer in the majors this season.

Most of it traces back to Augusta. He successfully defended his Masters title, edging Scottie Scheffler by a single shot for a $4.5 million winner’s check, a win that also pulled him level with Nick Faldo on the all-time European major list, trailing only Harry Vardon. At a combined federal and Georgia tax rate of 41.99%, that check alone generated a bill of roughly $1.9 million.

Add in his other major paydays, a T7 at the PGA Championship, a T32 at the U.S. Open, and a T40 at The Open, and his total major prize money for the year comes to $5.34 million. After taxes, he’s left with roughly $3.13 million, still the most any golfer has taken home from the four majors this year.

For now, McIlroy has said family time is the priority for the rest of the summer, with no fixed date yet for when he’ll return to competitive golf, a plan his own reduced schedule makes easy enough to keep.