As Golf Digest's own Shane Ryan already wrote, McIlroy could not have handled the post-infraction messaging any better than he did, which should come as a surprise to no one. You don't have to like getting a two-stroke penalty, but accepting it and moving on is the easiest route to universal praise. 

Even McIlroy's peers are already rushing to his defense. PGA Tour winner Michael Kim, who loves dropping pearls of wisdom from his X account, tweeted "There are certain players I won't question their golf integrity. Rory is one of those." Then he added a quick story on one of the ultimate standup moves he witnessed from the two-time Masters champ:

When you've got peers immediately running to social media to talk about how much integrity you have, you're doing something right.