The US Open proved to be a rather strange week for Rory McIlroy, with the Northern Irishman’s actions off the golf course attracting just as much attention as his performance on it.
In the years to come, golf fans will look at Rory McIlroy finishing just inside the top 20 at Oakmont and assume that he had quite an unspectacular week which continued his impressive run of US Open finishes.
However, that does not come close to telling the full story.
McIlroy very nearly missed the cut, and struggled to contain his frustration. The 36-year-old threw a couple of clubs, while he also smashed a tee marker at one stage.
What Rory McIlroy said on the range at Oakmont about his decision to not speak to the media
His bizarre boycott of the media also continued after the first two rounds. McIlroy did do a press conference before the tournament, but did not stop to speak to the press on Thursday or Friday.
And when he did then speak on Saturday, McIlroy initially claimed that he was annoyed at the media.
Oddly, he seemed a lot happier on Sunday as he gave interviews before and after his round. He also played like he was a little more content, as he posted the joint-lowest round of the day with a 67.
And speaking on Golf Channel, Eamon Lynch shared what McIlroy told him before that final round about his feelings towards the media.
“The demands on his time and the requests for his time from the media probably far outweigh any of his colleagues. And it has raised an interesting question, and we saw it with Collin Morikawa earlier this year as well, this idea of do players owe the media anything? And there are plenty of folks in the media who believe they do. It’s nonsense. They do not owe the media anything,” he said.
“The question is do they owe the consumers of their product something? And that’s a problem I suppose for the PGA Tour, and less so for the entities that run the major championships. They need to decide in men’s professional golf if they’re in the ‘we’ business or the ‘me’ business, are they still individual contractors and players who can do whatever they want or are they owners as they believe themselves to be with this equity program with the PGA Tour, are they owners of the game? In which case, they do have a responsibility to market themselves, their own product.
“And I get the frustrations that these guys have out there. And I talked to Rory McIlroy on the range yesterday, and he said there is no issue, there’s no single frustration that’s bugging him at the moment. I think it’s just the corrosive effect of a lot of smaller frustrations.”
Rory McIlroy’s actions have taken a little of the shine off his historic year
It is such a shame that McIlroy has let this historic year come to this. He did something which no-one else has been able to do for several years, and united almost the entire golfing world as he won The Masters to complete the career grand slam.
McIlroy obviously feels hurt by the fact that news of his driver failing testing at the PGA Championship was leaked. But he has arguably made the situation so much worse with how he has handled that frustration.
Obviously, no-one is going to get the full story as to why McIlroy is so upset. Nor should we. However, there is no question that a lot of people will be looking at him in a slightly different light.
It is a shame because there are few things in golf more enjoyable than watching McIlroy at his very best.
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