Rory McIlroy has revealed how a simple apology saved him a fortune in fines from the PGA Tour.

McIlroy hit the headlines in March for throwing his 3-iron into a lake during the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral.

But while the PGA Tour does not disclose how much players are fined for such incidents, McIlroy said: "The fine was reduced from $25,000 (£16,500) to $5,000 (£3,300) because I said I was sorry in the TV interview afterwards."

McIlroy, who has won three times so far this year -- the Dubai Desert Classic, the WGC Cadillac Match Play and the Wells Fargo Championship -- has had his season's numbers tracked by sponsors Santander, and the four-time grand slam champion admitted he was surprised by some of the statistics surrounding his travel, competition and training regimes.

He said: "When you are in the middle of it you don't realise because it's what you do, and then you step back and get presented with numbers and you're like 'Wow!'

"It's an interesting look at how I spend my most precious commodity, my time. They're comparing it with the money people are spending, but it's the same thing. You don't realise it until you see it and it's really useful for me in managing my time a bit better."

Despite suffering an ankle ligament injury which prevented him defending his Open Championship title at St Andrews, McIlroy had just 18 full days off in 2015 and spent 287 nights away from home.

The 26-year-old still managed to hit 16,500 balls, do 6,800 press-ups, 6,320 pull-ups and spent 6,720 minutes stretching, a massive change from the year of his first major victory in 2011.

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Rory McIlroy's 2015 in numbers

TRAINING

Running: 644 miles (2011: 273)
Swimming: 3,300 lengths (2011: 300)
Press ups: 6,800 (2011: 1,400)
Stretching: 6,720 minutes
Pull ups: 6,320 (2011: 0)
Cycled: 400 miles (2011: 120)

TRAVEL

Nights in a hotel: 287
Airports used: 118
Hours in the air: 350
Hours of sleep on a plane: 165
Days off: 18
Hours of music on playlist: 60

GOLF

Balls hit: 16,500
Miles walked on course: 932
Fastest ball driven: 188mph
Media interviews: 210
Autographs signed: 6,350
Money earned: $5,572,863 (£3,667,646)
Clubs thrown in water: 1
Money saved from apology: $20,000 (£3,300)

Press Association Sport contributed to this article.