The 2025 Masters winner spoke for the first time Wednesday about his failed driver test at last month’s PGA Championship and defended his decision to skip speaking with reporters throughout the major tournament. McIlroy said during a pre-tournament news conference at the PGA Tour’s RBC Canadian Open outside Toronto that part of his silence was due to being ‘pretty annoyed’ only his failed driver test was leaked to the public and not also Scottie Scheffler, according to Golfweek.
Scheffler later revealed he also was ruled to have had a non-conforming driver during PGA Championship week.
“I was a little pissed off because I knew that Scottie’s driver had failed on Monday, but my name was the one that was leaked. It was supposed to stay confidential. Two members of the media were the ones that leaked it,’ McIlroy said. ‘I didn’t want to get up there and say something that I regretted, either, because there’s a lot of people that — I’m trying to protect Scottie. I don’t want to mention his name. 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 had a disappointing showing at the 2025 PGA Championship on the heels of becoming just the sixth golfer in history to complete the sport’s career grand slam. He finished in a tie for 47th (+3) and was never in contention after shooting a 74 in the first round. The RBC Canadian Open, which begins with first-round action on Thursday, is McIlroy’s first PGA Tour event since the PGA Championship.
But it was McIlroy’s cold shoulder to reporters throughout the second major of the year that became as much the story as his performance. In explaining why he chose to do that, McIlroy called the PGA Championship ‘a bit of a weird week.’
He played poorly and wanted to practice after the first round, rather than speak with reporters. The second day of the tournament ended late and he wanted to get back to see his daughter, Poppy, before she went to bed. His tee time on Saturday got delayed from the morning to the afternoon and he felt too tired to speak with reporters afterwards.
‘Then Sunday, I just wanted to get on the plane and go back to Florida,’ McIlroy said.
“From a responsibility standpoint, look, I understand, but if we all wanted to, we could all bypass you guys … and we could go on social media and we could talk about our round and do it our own way,” McIlroy added, addressing reporters and the PGA Tour media policy. “We understand that that’s not ideal for you guys and there’s a bigger dynamic at play here, and I talk to you guys and I talk to the media a lot.’
‘I think there should be an understanding that this is a two-way street,’ he continued, ‘and as much as we need to speak to you guys, we understand the benefit that comes from you being here and giving us the platform and everything else. So I understand that. But again, 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 the regulations, you’re going to have guys skip from time to time, and that’s well within our rights.”
McIlroy also declined to speak with reporters after he blew a late lead with bogeys on three of the final four holes at the 2024 U.S. Open. His silence at the PGA Championship comes after a similar discussion emerged when Collin Morikawa declined to hold a session with reporters after he finished in second place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.
Though Morikawa took criticism from golfers-turned-commentators like Brandel Chamblee and Rocco Mediate, McIlroy came to his defense. McIlroy is slated to play in the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club beginning June 12 after his appearance at the RBC Canadian Open this week.