Rory McIlroy says professional golfers are “well within our rights” to skip media duties as he admitted he was left “annoyed” by a story regarding his equipment at last month’s US PGA Championship.
The Masters champion said a combination of tiredness, poor play, wanting to see his daughter and reports of his driver failing a legality test contributed to his decision not to speak to reporters after each of his four rounds at the year’s second major.
After winning at Quail Hollow Scottie Scheffler revealed his driver had also been deemed non-conforming in pre-tournament tests carried out by the United States Golf Association (USGA), but McIlroy was unimpressed that his name – and not the American’s – was reported by the media during the Northern Irishman’s second round.
“It was supposed to stay confidential,” said McIlroy, speaking to reporters for the first time since that event at this week’s Canadian Open.
“Two members of the media were the ones that leaked it. I didn’t want to get up there and say something that I regretted either because there’s a lot of people that I’m trying to protect: Scottie, I don’t want to mention his name, I’m trying to protect TaylorMade [the manufacturer], the USGA, the PGA of America, myself.
The five-time major winner added: “With Scottie’s stuff, that’s not my information to share. I knew that that had happened, but that’s not on me to share that.
“That process is supposed to be kept confidential and it wasn’t for whatever reason so that’s why I was pretty annoyed at that.”
McIlroy said that the relationship between players and the media is a “two-way street”, adding that players will continue to turn down requests to speak as long as it is not mandatory.
“From a responsibility standpoint, I understand, but if we all wanted to, we could all bypass you guys and we could just go on this [our phones] and go on social media and we could talk about our round and do it our own way,” said the 36-year-old.
“We understand that’s not ideal for you guys and there’s a bigger dynamic at play here. I talk to the media a lot and I think there should be an understanding that this is a two-way street.
“We understand the benefit that comes from you being here and giving us the platform.
“But I’ve been beating this drum for a long time. If they [golf officials] want to make it mandatory [to speak to the media] that’s fine, but in our rules it says it’s not and until the day when it’s maybe written into regulations, you’re going to have guys skip from time to time and that’s well within our rights.”
McIlroy returns to action at TPC Toronto this week, after skipping the Charles Schwab Challenge and Memorial Tournament, as he ramps up his preparations for next week’s US Open.
Having realised his lifelong ambition by clinching the career Grand Slam at the Masters in April, he finished joint seventh at the Truist Championship before a disappointing share of 47th at the US PGA at Quail Hollow, where he has won four times.
With an Open Championship on home soil at Royal Portrush in July and an away Ryder Cup in September, he hopes to recapture his best form heading into the second half of the season.
“I don’t know if I’m chasing anything,” said the world number two
“I would certainly say the last few weeks, I’ve had a couple of weeks off, and going and grinding on the range for three or four hours every day is a little tougher than it used to be.
“You have this event in your life that you’ve worked towards and it happens, sometimes it’s hard to find the motivation to get back on the horse and go again.
“The past two weeks have been good for me as a reset, to figure out where I’m at in my own head, what I want to do, where I want to play and reset some goals. I’ve had a pretty good first half of the season and I want to have a good second half too.”
Having won the Canadian Open in 2019 and 2022, McIlroy begins his bid for a third title at 12:40 BST on Thursday.
