There was, however, one gain in Toronto, the termination of an omerta. McIlroy had skipped media duties at the PGA Championship, later saying he was “pissed off” that news of an enforced driver change had been leaked. He insisted golfers are “well within our rights” not to speak to journalists.
In Toronto, a week ahead of the US Open at an even more punitive Oakmont course, this truly was a shocker for McIlroy. Only four players posted higher scores than his nine-over par 149, one, David Hearn, labours outside the top 200. Two, Mark Hoffman and Wes Heffernan, are not yet worthy of a ranking.
"I didn't want to say something I regretted" Rory McIlroy on not speaking to the media at the PGA Championship after his failed driver test was leaked by the media.pic.twitter.com/4m0J1ZLPhF
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) June 4, 2025His Masters victory was supposed to be cathartic, the ad astra moment liberating him from the 11-year struggle to join the elite group to have won all four majors and setting him on a path to the stars. He never looked like contending at Quail Hollow, where the enforced driver change was received like a Samsonian haircut, and now this mortification.
“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,” McIlroy mused on his return to the media circle pre-tournament in Canada.
McIlroy misses the cut in Canada (Photo: Getty)
Moreover, McIlroy is prone to the cataclysmic, witness his opening quadruple bogey eight at the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush on the return of the world’s oldest major to his birth place of Northern Ireland.
The delicate thread holding his emotional state together becomes episodically stretched, dumping freak scores on his card. Contrast that with the iron psyche of world No 1 Scheffler, who has won twice and finished fourth since the Masters, including a third major title at the PGA Championship.
square SIMON KELNER Golf still has an image problem - and not even Rory McIlroy can change that
Read More
“It concerns me,” he said before boarding the plane for Florida. “You don’t want to shoot high scores like the one I did today.
“Still sort of searching for the sort of missing piece off the tee. Obviously, for me, when I get that part of the game clicking, then everything falls into place. Right now, that isn’t.”
McIlroy is golf, a touchstone in every way. Petulance is rarely a good look, and beating up on a generally supportive media is the biggest mistake of all.
Without the media filter via which sporting legends are skilfully curated, McIlroy would, in all likelihood, never have left Belfast. He would still have been a great player, mind, but not a rich one and certainly not the demigod he is today.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Rory McIlroy has had a shocker – and I don’t just mean his golf )
Also on site :