Rory McIlroy admitted Wednesday that he was “pissed off” that his name had leaked after what was supposed to be confidential driver testing ahead of the PGA Championship.
That failed test was just part of a “weird week” that saw the reigning Masters champion decline to talk to the media after all four tournament rounds at Quail Hollow.
McIlroy said he was “pretty annoyed” at the report that his driver was deemed nonconforming during standard USGA equipment testing when he knew that the world No. 1, Scottie Scheffler, also needed to put in a backup driver head for the year’s second major.
“But my name was the one that was leaked,” McIlroy said. “It was supposed to stay confidential.”
McIlroy said, after the news broke during the second round, he didn’t want to speak to the media because he didn’t want to “get up there and say something that I regretted.”
“I’m trying to protect Scottie; I didn’t want to mention his name,” said McIlroy of Scheffler, who only went into detail about his failed driver test after his PGA victory on Sunday night. “I’m trying to protect TaylorMade. I’m trying to protect the USGA, PGA of America, myself. I just didn’t want to get up there and say something that I regretted at the time.
“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, and I felt that process is supposed to be kept confidential and it wasn’t for whatever reason. That’s why I was pretty annoyed at that.”
McIlroy said logistics played a factor in his decision to skip any post-round media the other day, whether it was because of a late start, a long delay prior to his third round or just wanting to fly home after a disappointing tie for 47th in his first major start since completing the career Grand Slam.
On the wider topic of post-round availability, McIlroy has been clear for months that, under the current regulations, players can steer clear of any media obligations whenever they see fit.
“If we all wanted to, we could all bypass you guys and we could go on (our phones) and do it our own way,” he said, before adding: “We understand the benefit that comes from you being here and giving us the platform and everything else. So I understand that. But I’ve been beating this drum for a long time: If they want to make it mandatory, that’s fine, but in our rules it says that it’s not, and until the day that that’s maybe written into our regulations, you’re going to have guys skip from time to time, and that’s well within our rights.”
