Rory McIlroy posts cryptic Twitter messages

Rory McIlroy was back on Twitter Monday night and again on Tuesday with a couple of rather obtuse messages for fans and/or critics of his equipment change and admittedly rash decision to withdraw midway through the second round of last week’s Honda Classic.

Even before the world No. 1 received a raft of stuff for his abrupt departure from PGA National on Friday, his much-ballyhooed equipment change from Titleist to Nike was under intense scrutiny, especially after McIlroy’s fierce struggles on the course since the switch. In the midst of speculation about the 23-year-old’s love life -- which he and girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki have made anything but private via their ongoing flirtations viaTwitter -- McIlroy admitted to Sports Illustrated that he should not have withdrawn from last week’s event.

“It was the wrong thing to do,” McIlroy told SI about walking off the course before finishing his ninth hole of the day. “It was a reactive decision. What I should have done is take my drop, chip it on, try to make a five and play my hardest on the back nine, even if I shot 85.”

McIlroy also said in the interview that he had avoided Twitter of late so as not to become embroiled in what people were saying about his withdrawal..

Then on Tuesday, in what the Daily Mail referred to as a “defiant message to his critics,” @McIlroyRory posted a puzzling communique on Twitter.

Tuesday’s dispatch followed another equally ambiguous post of several hours earlier, McIlroy’s first since issuing an apology on Friday for his earlier actions at the Honda.

According to those in the know, FTB means “Feed the Beast,” which we have to surmise refers to the media. What it all actually adds up to is anyone’s guess, but we’re guessing the dispatches may not have been what Tiger Woods and Ernie Els had in mind when each urged McIlroy to think before he spoke or acted. They did not actually specify he should contemplate carefully before tweeting.

Perhaps the two-time major champion will shed some light on it all when he meets the press Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. ET at Doral.