Whether it became clear in the immediate aftermath of his emotional victory at the Masters in April or in the let-it-sink-in aftermath, Rory McIlroy finds himself in a new place these days.
McIlroy has captured what he spent years chasing – a green jacket – and figuring out what it meant didn’t end when the sun went down that super-charged Sunday in Augusta.
Slipping his arms into the green jacket is one thing, getting his arms around its impact on his career and life has been something else.
What is there for McIlroy to chase now?
“I don’t know if I’m chasing anything,” McIlroy said Wednesday on the eve of the RBC Canadian Open, where he will compete following a two-week break.
“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.”
Since his Masters victory, McIlroy has made two rather indifferent individual starts by his standards, finishing T7 at the Truist Championship and a disappointing T47 at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, where he has won four times.
McIlroy went quiet at the PGA Championship, creating a brushfire of controversy because he’s typically generous with the media and it coincided with reports that his driver was one of several that failed a pre-tournament test for spring-like effect, information that was intended to remain confidential.
In his first public comments since the PGA Championship, McIlroy called it a “weird week.”
He took a pass on a media session after the first round because he played poorly and wanted to practice. He left quickly after the second round to see his daughter, Poppy, before she went to bed.
Saturday’s start was delayed five hours and McIlroy, out of contention, finished near dark. When he finished in the early afternoon on Sunday, McIlroy wanted to escape and get home to Florida, leaving questions without answers.
It wasn’t until Sunday that it came to light Scottie Scheffler’s driver had also been deemed non-conforming prior to the event but only McIlroy’s name had been revealed. It’s not unusual for drivers to fail the inspection – a reported nine failed at Quail Hollow – but the fact that it got out did not sit well with McIlroy.
“I just didn’t want to get up there and say something that I regretted at the time.” – Rory McIlroy
“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.
“Again, 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.”
It also raised the question of whether players, particularly the top players, have a responsibility to talk with the media after their rounds. It is required by some sports leagues but not by the PGA Tour.
Collin Morikawa raised the issue earlier in the year when he said he doesn’t “owe anyone anything” and doubled down on it later.
It’s true that professional golfers don’t owe the media their time nor their thoughts but, for the most part, it tends to be in their best interests. Whether it is to explain or enlighten, media sessions can provide insight and understanding while also humanizing a competitor.
Without information, people will create their own narratives, which happened to some degree with McIlroy’s silence at Quail Hollow after the driver news.
When McIlroy left the U.S. Open at Pinehurst after his gutting loss to Bryson DeChambeau last June, it was understandable in the moment. It left a void but the moment spoke to what McIlroy might have said.
“From a responsibility standpoint, I understand, but if we all wanted to, we could all bypass you guys and we could just go on this and we could go on social media and we could talk about our round and do it our own way,” McIlroy said in his pre-tournament session Wednesday.
“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, 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.”
As for the golf itself, McIlroy has made the RBC Canadian Open a regular stop on his schedule because he values national championships and playing it the week before the U.S. Open fits his preparation.
From 2016-18, McIlroy missed the cut in the U.S. Open each year. Since the Canadian Open moved to the week prior to the U.S. Open, McIlroy has won north of the border twice and never failed to finish outside the top 10 at the U.S. Open.
“So there’s something to that,” McIlroy said.