It is fair to say that Rory McIlroy probably did not do himself many favours in the eyes of his critics over the last few weeks.
Rory McIlroy had the entire golfing world in tears as he won The Masters and clinched the career grand slam in April. However, more recently, the Northern Irishman has come in for a lot of criticism.
Some were baffled by McIlroy skipping The Memorial Tournament without speaking to Jack Nicklaus beforehand. And of course, the PGA Championship proved to be a strange week for the 36-year-old.
It seemed that McIlroy was prickly in his opening press conference. And that would prove to be the final time that he spoke to the media all week at Quail Hollow. His performance on the course was underwhelming, while he was at the centre of a bizarre incident when it was reported that his driver had to be changed after being found to be non-conforming.
Fans react as Rory McIlroy explains his decision not to speak to the media at the PGA Championship
McIlroy has finally broken his silence ahead of the Canadian Open. He explained that he did not want to say something he would regret when reports about his driver emerged. Meanwhile, he was not keen to speak to the media after a disappointing first day as well as a poor weekend.
Interestingly, the comments have completely divided opinion. One fan on social media wrote: ‘Rory owes the media nothing‘. Meanwhile, another posted: ‘Almost like context matters and there’s a good reason for Rory’s actions most of the time.’
There was further support, with one person posting: ‘Have zero issue with this.’ Another wrote: ‘One of the better responses from Rory in quite a while‘.
On the other hand, there was plenty of criticism directed at McIlroy, with one person writing: ‘How can one be so likeable but so insufferable at the same time‘. Another said: ‘It’s crazy that Rory was one of the more likeable players on Tour, but those days have been fading fast‘.
Someone else posted: ‘Lost a lot of respect for this man‘.
And another said: ‘Usually the days he doesn’t feel like talking also coincides with the days he doesn’t play well.’
There was also an intriguing question asked with Scottie Scheffler‘s driver also not conforming that week, with one person writing: ‘Someone should ask Rory how he felt when Scottie openly talked about it and had no issues‘.
Why Scottie Scheffler was the player who received an apology after the PGA Championship
McIlroy seemed to take exception with news of his driver failing finding its way into the media when the results are supposed to be confidential.
However, if anyone had reason to be upset, it is perhaps Scottie Scheffler. It turned out that it was Xander Schauffele who revealed that Scheffler’s driver had failed at Quail Hollow, with the two-time major champion apologising to the world number one ahead of Memorial.
Schauffele suggested that he was outlining how impressive Scheffler’s performance had been, as reported by Golf.com. And Scheffler, to his credit, was quick to confirm the situation.
In hindsight, that was perhaps how McIlroy should have handled the speculation given that there was no reason at all to believe that he had done anything wrong anyway.
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