Rory McIlroy has admitted being “pissed off” and “annoyed” after news of a forced driver change leaked during the US PGA Championship last month.
McIlroy had to switch heads early in the week at Quail Hollow after his driver was deemed non-conforming by a United States Golf Association test. The scenario is perfectly common – when club faces become too springy through overuse – and also happened to the eventual champion Scottie Scheffler. The process, though, is meant to be private.
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McIlroy did not address the media after any round at the US PGA, a topic he expanded upon on Wednesday at the Canadian Open in Toronto. “The PGA was a bit of a weird week,” the Masters champion said.
“I didn’t play well. I didn’t play well the first day, so I wanted to go practise, so that was fine. Second day we finished late. I wanted to go back and see [McIlroy’s daughter] Poppy before she went to bed. The driver news broke. I didn’t really want to speak on that.
“Saturday I was supposed to tee off at 8.20 in the morning. I didn’t tee off until almost 2 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.”
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McIlroy duly opened up on the specifics of driver-gate. He said: “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.
“I didn’t want to get up there and say something that I regretted. 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 had happened, but that’s not on me 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.”
Lost in this melee was that McIlroy’s driving accuracy statistics were decidedly poor during victories at Augusta National and the month previously, when he won the Players Championship.
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McIlroy’s appearance in Canada serves in part as a buildup for the US Open at Oakmont next week. The Northern Irishman admitted he has had to juggle fresh thoughts after winning the Masters, a success which completed the career grand slam. “I would certainly say that the last few weeks, I’ve had a couple of 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,” the 36-year-old 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. Yeah, reset some goals. 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.”
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