Rory McIlroy addresses media silence — with a pointed message

OAKMONT, Pa. — It has become something of a guessing game among assembled media at major championships: Will Rory McIlroy speak post-round, or won’t he?

He’s skipped out plenty of late. A couple times at the Masters, all four days at the PGA Championship, the first two days at this week’s U.S. Open. It came as something of a surprise, then, when he walked toward the microphone by Oakmont’s clubhouse following Saturday’s four-over 74, an uneven performance that dropped him outside the top 50.

(A quick aside — I do not personally have a strong feeling about players “needing” to speak to the media post-round. I like when they do, of course, and I think it generally benefits them to talk, but we’re not entitled to their time nor their words, which instantly get blasted out to the world and can take on lives of their own. This is, of course, a much longer and more nuanced conversation that you probably don’t really care about. Let’s get back to the interview.)

The session began somewhat awkwardly. Would this media session be about this week’s tournament play or about his media sessions more broadly? McIlroy was asked to assess his U.S. Open to this point and began with a two-word answer — “pretty average” — that set the tone.

He offered some insight on his actual play, even offering a silver lining: “I’ve driven the ball as good as I have in a long time, so that’s at least a positive this week,” he said.

McIlroy has admitted some post-Masters malaise now that he’s won the career Grand Slam. He expounded on that, too: “I alluded to it in my pre-tournament press conference, you don’t really know how it’s going to affect you. You don’t know how you’re going to react to such a — I wouldn’t say a life-altering occasion, but at least something that I’ve dreamt about for a long time. I alluded to the fact that, yeah, I have felt a little flat on the golf course afterwards.”

It’s fair to say that McIlroy wasn’t at his most motivated after falling outside the cut line on Friday; he essentially shrugged describing his cut-line charge, when he birdied two of his final seven holes to sneak inside it.

“It’s funny, like, it’s much easier being on the cut line when you don’t really care if you’re here for the weekend or not,” he said. “I was sort of thinking, do I really want two more days here or not? So it makes it easier to play better when you’re in that mindset.”

It’s probably not accurate to say he didn’t care, given he chucked his club and smashed a tee marker in those final holes and given McIlroy is one of golf’s all-time most famous carers. But I get his point. Finally a reporter asked about McIlroy’s habit of skipping post-round interview sessions.

Has that been part and parcel to the frustration on the golf course? What do you attribute it to?

“No, not really. It’s more a frustration with you guys,” McIlroy said. Oh! That was a particularly pointed message, one he was clearly prepared to deliver. In what way?

“I’m just, yeah, I don’t know,” he added. “I have, I’ve been totally available for the last few years, and I’m not saying — maybe not you guys, but maybe more just the whole thing.”

This clarification at least made a bit more sense. The world of golf media is not particularly large, and McIlroy has cordial relationships with most of the assembled reporters. His issue with “the whole thing” seems like the root of the issue — the larger media apparatus. Whether that means post-round interviews, the state of journalism or something more specific remains an open question.

Did any of this stem from frustration around McIlroy’s leaked driver test at the PGA Championship? Yes and no, he said.

“Yeah, that was a part of it,” McIlroy said. But not the whole thing. It’s not as if — like, at Augusta I skipped you guys on Thursday, so yeah, again, it’s not out of the ordinary. I’ve done it before; I’m just doing it a little more often.”

A reporter asked if McIlroy has been front and center long enough to earn the right to skip.

“I feel like I’ve earned the right to do whatever I want to do, yeah,” he said with a smile.

Earlier this week McIlroy explained that pro golfers have the flexibility to speak to reporters or not and that, unless tournaments mandate it, he’ll continue to take advantage. Some had speculated that this was McIlroy taking some sort of stand and essentially challenging the Tour to mandate media availability, but he explicitly denied that.

“No, I’m not daring them to do anything,” he said. “I hope they don’t change it because this is a nice luxury to have. But I’m just pointing out the fact that we have the ability to do it.”

The session ended with a final dose of brevity and apathy. What is McIlroy looking for on U.S. Open Sunday?

“Hopefully a round in under four-and-a-half hours and get out of here,” he said.

And that was that. The group thanked McIlroy for his time, he left the interview area and walked up the stairs into Oakmont’s clubhouse.