Rory McIlroy had a rough week at Quail Hollow Club during the PGA Championship. After his driver was deemed nonconforming early in the week, the Northern Irishman limped to a T47 finish and refused to speak to the media after all four rounds.
McIlroy took some time off after his disappointing performance at the PGA Championship, but he’s back in action this week for the RBC Canadian Open at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. On Wednesday, the World No. 2 met with reporters and detailed his excuse for snubbing them at Quail Hollow.
“I didn’t play well the first day, so I wanted to go practice, so that was fine,” McIlroy told reporters at TPC Toronto, per Mark Schlabach of ESPN. “Second day, we finished late. I wanted to go back and see [daughter] Poppy before she went to bed. The driver news broke. I didn’t really want to speak on that.
“Saturday, I was supposed to tee off at 8:20 in the morning. I didn’t tee off until almost 2 o’clock in the afternoon, another late finish. [I] was just tired, wanted to go home. Then Sunday, I just wanted to get on the plane and go back to Florida.”
Being tired and wanting to get out of North Carolina after a rough week aren’t the best excuses for ditching his media responsibilities, but there was another factor involved.
When the USGA deems a driver nonconforming, that decision is supposed to remain confidential. McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler’s drivers both failed testing on Monday, but only one of those results leaked during the tournament.
“I was a little p— off because I knew that Scottie’s driver had failed on Monday, but my name was the one that was leaked,” McIlroy said. “It was supposed to stay confidential. Two members of the media were the ones that leaked it.
