As Rory McIlroy has grown closer to Tiger Woods, he has figured out one important thing: It’s not worth it.

McIlroy, who is no stranger to tabloid controversies, has had a closeup look at the chilling effect being in the spotlight has had on Woods’ life.

“I’ve seen it first-hand. I’ve seen what his life is like in Florida,” McIlroy told the Irish Times in a lengthy Q&A.

“I’ve played golf with him and said: ‘What are you doing tonight? Do you want to come and have dinner with us?’ And he can’t. He just can’t. And for me that’s unfathomable. I could not live like that.”

Woods had one of the most publicized falls from grace in sports history. His personal life was left in shambles after his then-wife Elin Norgren chased him out of their house with a golf club and he crashed his car trying to escape her wrath. The wrath, of course, was the result of Woods’ sex scandal that rocked the sports world for years to come.

Where was McIlroy at the time of Woods’ 2009 accident?

“The European Tour season had just finished and I was spending December at home in Northern Ireland,” McIlroy told the paper. “The first thing [we heard] was: ‘Tiger Woods has been in a car accident.’ I thought: ‘Holy s–t! Has he been injured?’ And then as things started to come out we got the bigger picture.”

Woods never regained his spot as the unbeatable figure on top of the sport — he has not won a major since the 2008 US Open — as McIlroy and other young players chewed away at Woods’ invincibility.

The Northern Irishman’s own personal life later became public when he dumped fiancée Caroline Wozniacki in a telephone call. But, he says, the scrutiny he faced does not compare to what Woods has endured.

“If someone was to say, ‘You can have 14 majors and 70 wins, but have to deal with that, or nine majors and 40 wins and stay somewhat the same as you are,’ I’d take the second option all day,” McIlroy said.

The two have formed a close bond in recent years as McIlroy has climbed to the top of the sport and Woods has crashed down dealing with back injuries. Woods finally returned to tournament play last month, and is scheduled to play at Riviera in mid-February.

“He’s an intriguing character because you could spend two hours in his company and see four different sides to him,” McIlroy said. “When he’s comfortable and he trusts you — and his trust [sensitivity] is way [higher] than mine — he’s great. He’s thoughtful.

“He’s smart. He reads. He can’t sleep, so that’s all he does — he reads stuff and educates himself on everything. But he struggles to sleep, which I think is an effect of overtraining, so I tell him to calm down sometimes. He’d be texting me at four o’clock in the morning: ‘Up lifting. What are you doing?’”

McIlroy said not everyone enjoys Woods’ late-night texting habit, specifically his fiancée Erica Stoll.

“Erica actually got pissed off with it,” McIlroy said. “He was texting me in the middle of the night, and I was like, ‘Tiger is in the gym.’”