As LIV Golf Alliance Questions Persist, Rory McIlroy Is Working Hard to Avoid Them
HOYLAKE, England — This goes under the category of "first world problems," so I’m not asking for sympathy, rather understanding.
On Monday afternoon, a one-line note went up on the large leaderboard screen that is in the front of the media center.
It said that Rory McIlroy would not be doing a pre-championship interview as scheduled on Monday.
No reason was given and no other announcement was made.
This is not unusual for McIlroy, as he has declined to participate in several recent pre-tournament interviews.
He didn’t come into the media center at the U.S. Open in Los Angeles, the Travelers Championship or last week’s Scottish Open.
All these events have come after the June 6 announcement of the framework agreement between the DP World Tour, PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
On June 7 at the RBC Canadian Open, McIlroy did come in before the tournament as the two-time defending champion and the first 14 questions were about the agreement, LIV Golf and reactions from a player meeting the night before.
Question 15 was about the venue for that week’s Canadian Open.
Is McIlroy ducking the press? Not exactly, since he has talked after rounds, yet when the LIV discussion comes up, it’s clear McIlroy is done with the topic.
That's understandable as he likely believes can’t say anything else, probably knows nothing more and if he did, would be required to keep it to himself as a PGA Tour Policy Board member.
Also, like Tiger Woods, no one carried the water more for PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan only to be stabbed in the back by a person he trusted.
But here’s the thing: McIlroy is board member and while he was not privy to the discussions until just before the announcement on June 6, he is one of the faces of the board and with Monahan on the shelf with an undisclosed health issue until yesterday, it would seem incumbent on all board members to make themselves available.
Yet two other board members, Charley Hoffman and Patrick Cantlay, declined to speak last week, with Hoffman stating he wasn’t doing any media.
In the case of McIlroy, his winning Sunday in dramatic fashion with consecutive birdies at the Scottish Open created more interest in the current No. 2 in the world.
Also, considering that Hoylake is where he won his only Claret Jug in 2014, the last time the Open was at this venue, having McIlroy in to talk about coming back to Royal Liverpool, his win last week, his game in general or the changes to the course would have been part of the interview.
Would a LIV question come up? Sure, but that’s to be expected.
McIlroy has done "Live at the Range," where all the questions are benign in nature, which is great for the R&A since it sold a sponsorship to the show to HSBC. But since media access to the range is limited and not as open as a PGA Tour event, the PGA Championship, and U.S. Open, it’s hard to get to McIlroy to ask him a question.
On Tuesday, McIlroy did a quick interview with Sky Sports and BBC Northern Ireland as well as with Open Championship officials that was recorded and disseminated to the media. At no time were media present when the questions were asked nor were reporters invited to ask their own questions.
McIlroy also did a sponsored event Monday night.
The bigger issue is the marginalization of journalism and McIlroy declining to speak with the scribes is just another example of disrespect to the journalists who made the trip to Royal Liverpool and to fans who want to read about golf and specifically McIlroy.
Journalism grows the sport more than anything else. The stories about McIlroy’s win last week were all over social media and in every sports publication.
You grow the game through exposure to the game and exposing the public to the game accomplishes that goal.
You can’t talk about wanting to grow the game and then shun your responsibilities to the game.
Considering there is nothing that the media can do, we must take what we get, but players know better and taking 20 minutes on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday is not much of a lift.
At 83 years old, Jack Nicklaus comes in every Thursday morning at the Masters with Gary Player and Tom Watson and talks to the media about all sorts of topics.
Nicklaus hasn’t played competitively since 2005 on the Champions Tour, but it's Nicklaus and his words still resonate.
Hopefully, McIlroy will think twice before rejecting the media in the future. He’s bigger than that, and we as media deserve that respect.