Tomorrow (Wednesday), for the first time since the day prior to the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, Rory McIlroy will speak publicly when he addresses the media after his Pro-Am appearance at the RBS Canadian Open.
Just a month after completing the Career Grand Slam at Augusta National, McIlroy’s stock had never been higher, and he was his usual self – focused, thoughtful, eloquent, informative, all the hits. And that was the last time we heard from him, as four largely indifferent rounds and controversy surrounding a failed driver test engulfed him, and he declined media requests after each and every round.
As has been well documented in recent months, players are free to choose whether to do media duties or not, so we’re not going to go back into the rights and wrongs of that, but it was unusual to say the least, especially as the reigning Masters champion.
Since then, he’s opted to skip Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament for the first time since 2017, and his appearance at TPC Toronto will be his lone competitive rep between the PGA Championship and the US Open which gets underway at Oakmont on Thursday week.
Again, it’s McIlroy’s own prerogative where and when he tees it up, and if he feels that playing the week before the US Open is better preparation than a fortnight previous, he’s free to choose to do so, but the fact that he didn’t provide Nicklaus the courtesy of a letter or a phone call to say as much was again odd, especially when Nicklaus admitted that he’d written to McIlroy to congratulate him after his Masters success.
The Golden Bear was careful to avoid saying anything overly controversial in his press conference at Muirfield Village, but it was painfully obvious that he was a little disappointed not to have received the courtesy of a phone call at least, especially given that his relationship with McIlroy dates back to when the Holywood man was a fledgling pro on the PGA Tour.
It’s also the third PGA Tour Signature Event that he’s opted to miss this year, and as one of the prime architects of the revamped PGA Tour schedule, that will be another sticking point for the US-based media in particular.
No golfer has given the media more over the past decade-and-a-half than Rory, and no golfer has been given more in return, but the fourth estate were collectively ticked off at being snubbed at Quail Hollow so we can expect very few softballs to be lopped in McIlroy’s direction tomorrow. And the truth is, it’s his own doing.
It would’ve been very easy to explain the situation regarding his driver. His was one of 10 to fail the conformity test that week, after all, and any advantage gained by playing a ‘hot’ driver is minimal at best. It would also have been fairly easy to explain his subpar (for him) performance at Quail Hollow by simply explaining that nobody plays well every week and that that was just a week where he didn’t have his ‘A’ game.
But by avoiding the media that week, he’s only delayed the inevitable, and those questions and many more will surface this week.
But Rory is headstrong – there’s plenty evidence of that. How will he respond to what could be a grilling from a cohort who have often been among his strongest allies?
I don’t for one second believe that it’s a strategy of any sort, but he’s somebody that’s performed well with a chip on his shoulder in the past.
Having been the biggest story in golf for all the right reasons, he’s had to take a back seat as Scottie Scheffler has resumed his mantle as the game’s form player. Scottie is taking the week off so McIlroy has the limelight all to himself again.
Tomorrow’s headlines will centre around his press conference, but the bigger question is whether his golf has taken centre stage again by the time he arrives in Pittsburg for the US Open.
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