Ready to Talk, Rory McIlroy Sounds Off On Nonconforming Driver Incident

The last time we saw Rory McIlroy, he was finishing T-47 at the PGA Championship. The result was a little shocking, given that he dominates at Quail Hollow and he had just won the Masters. In his own words, it “was a bit of a weird week.”

“I didn't play well the first day, so I wanted to go practice, so that was fine,” Rory said during his pre-tournament press conference ahead of this week’s RBC Canadian Open at TPC Toronto. “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. Saturday I was supposed to tee off at 8:20 in the morning. I didn't tee off until almost 2:00 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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If you don’t know what the “driver news” was, let me explain.

Before the PGA began, Rory’s driver was deemed nonconforming, meaning he had to take it out of the bag and replace it with a new one. As the greatest driver of the golf ball in the history of this sport, that’s a pretty big deal, especially just a few days before a major championship. He caught some flak from the media after declining to speak after all four rounds in Charlotte.

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On Wednesday, McIlroy admitted he was “little pissed” that the news leaked.

“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," McIlroy said. "It was supposed to stay confidential. Two members of the media were the ones that leaked it. 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.”

I’ve always thought it’s a little ridiculous that the media expects to hear from these guys whenever anything of note happens. They don’t have to speak if they don’t want to! Did this turn into a bigger story than it needed to be because he declined availability? Sure, but the guy doesn’t have to stand in front of a mic if he doesn’t want to.

This time, sitting in front of the microphones, McIlroy did not hesitate to comment.

“From a responsibility standpoint, look, 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 continued. “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're sort of -- like 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 this week and McIlroy’s chances, it’s tough not to love them. He’s played in this event four times, he’s won it twice, and he hasn’t finished worse than T-9. It’s a new host course, sure, but this place fits Rory’s game to a tee. Hit it as far as you want off the tee, find it, and hit a wedge.

When that’s the strategy, I like his chances.

Plus, with Scottie Scheffler back at home in Texas, he has a chance to get his nose back ahead with four wins.

The best-case scenario? Rory wins this week and Oakmont turns into a Scottie-Rory showdown. I need it.