'Pissed off' Rory McIlroy opens up on driver leak, weird PGA and post-Masters struggles

McIlroy spoke to media Wednesday before the Canadian Open, admitting that 'grinding on the range for three or four hours every day is a little tougher than it used to be'

STAYING FOCUSED: Rory McIlroy swings down and through his drive from the 3rd at the Canadian Open Pro-Am at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. Pic: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

RORY McIlroy has hit out at how news of his driver failing a compliancy test at last month’s PGA Championship was “leaked”, admitting he was “pissed off” over how the situation was handled.

Making his first appearance in front of a microphone for three weeks, McIlroy opened up ahead of this week’s RBC Canadian Open in Toronto. At the PGA Championship in Charlotte last month he had refused to speak to the media for four straight days as a controversy around the testing of players’ clubs rumbled.

On Wednesday, McIlroy revealed that he was aware world No.1 Scottie Scheffler had also had his driver deemed inadmissible after an on-site conformance test at Quail Hollow by the USGA. However when the news initially broke it was McIlroy who was the only player identified in negative headlines.

“The driver stuff, 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,” said McIlroy.

“I didn't want to get up there and say something that I regretted, either, because there's a lot of people [involved]. 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 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.” 

At a Quail Hollow course which was always a happy hunting ground, McIlroy saw Scheffler win while he laboured to a tie for 47th, his first major after completing the career grand slam at Augusta ending up a peculiar spectacle. McIlroy admitted the tournament didn’t go according to plan as he tried to explain why he’d activated mute mode.

“The PGA was a bit of a weird week. I didn't play well. I didn't play well the first day, so I wanted to go practice, so that was fine. Second day we finished late. I wanted to go back and see Poppy before she went to bed. The driver news broke. I didn't really want to speak on that,” he said.

“Saturday I was supposed to tee off at 8.20 in the morning. I didn't tee off until almost 2pm in the afternoon, another late finish, was just tired, wanted to go home. Then Sunday, I just wanted to get on the plane and go back to Florida.” 

McIlroy spent Wednesday morning’s Pro-Am here playing alongside former European Tour chief Keith Pelley, now the CEO of a group which owns the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, NHL’s Maple Leafs and MLS outfit Toronto FC. In his previous role Pelley played a significant part in the merger talks between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, an affair which McIlroy threw himself front and centre of. But he insisted taking a step back at May's PGA Championship had nothing to do with the feeling of being burned by his PGA-LIV advocacy.

"No, not at all,” he replied. “I've skipped my fair share of media requests over the years, so it's not as if…it was nothing to do with that. It was just some days you don't feel like talking.” 

McIlroy, a two-time champion here in Canada, skipped the past two weeks of action on the PGA Tour, traveling with caddie Harry Diamond to watch Manchester United’s Europa League Final loss to Tottenham and then surprisingly missing last week’s Memorial in Ohio.

After finally reaching the promised land at the Masters in such dramatic circumstances in April, the 36-year-old admitted there’s been an adjustment period as new career and life goals wait to be set.

“I don't know if I'm chasing anything. I would certainly say that the last few weeks I've had a couple weeks off, and going and grinding on the range for three or four hours every day is maybe a little tougher than it used to be,” he said.
 

“You have this event in your life that you've worked towards and it happens, sometimes it's hard to find the motivation to get back on the horse and go again. I think the last two weeks have been good for me just as a reset, just to sort of figure out where I'm at in my own head, what I want to do, where I want to play.

“I thought it was a good time to reset some goals. I've had a pretty good first half of the season, and I want to have a good second half of the season now, too.” 

This week at TPC Toronto he’s hoping Canada’s national open provides more of the same for him. It’s not just the victories here in 2019 and 2022 that have served McIlroy well, the event has proven a consistent springboard to his challenges at the US Open, with the next edition just a week away at Oakmont.

“I love that it's the week leading into the U.S. Open,” he said. “I told this story a little bit, but before playing in this event, 2016, 2017, 2018, I missed three cuts in a row at the U.S. Open, and since playing the Canadian Open the week before, I've had six top 10s in a row. So there's something to that.”