OAKMONT, Pa. — The last time Rory McIlroy spoke to the media after a round at a major — and, by association, the public at large — he was wearing a green jacket.
“I’d like to start this press conference with a question myself,” he said with a smile back in April, less than an hour after winning the Masters. “What are we all going to talk about next year?”
Apparently nothing, as McIlroy has now skipped out on speaking after five straight rounds at majors — four at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow and, on Thursday, the opening round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont.
Minutes after finishing up a round that started promising — two-under on the outward nine — and turned disastrous — six-over on the inward nine — to leave him at 4-over, eight strokes behind clubhouse leader J.J. Spaun, McIlroy bypassed a gathering of reporters and well-wishers, walking straight into the Oakmont clubhouse without saying a word. That’s certainly his right — unlike the NFL, NBA or other sports, golfers aren’t required to talk to the media — and McIlroy did hold forth on his post-Masters hangover earlier in the week.
“You dream about the final putt going in at the Masters, but you don’t think about what comes next,” he said. “I always struggle to show up with motivation the next week because you’ve just accomplished something and you want to enjoy it and you want to sort of relish the fact that you’ve achieved a goal.”
That’s certainly understandable. If you finish a marathon, you’re not going to want to jog back to your car. You graduate from college on a Sunday, and you’re not exactly going to be ready to get back in the classroom on Monday.
At the same time, as McIlroy acknowledged, there’s still golf yet to be played. He has two more majors, including this week, plus the Ryder Cup, as well as his PGA Tour commitments. So far, the post-Masters results have been unspectacular — T12 at the Zurich Classic, T7 at the Truist, an ugly T47 at the PGA Championship, and a missed cut last week at the RBC Canadian. That’s a trend line running the wrong way.
McIlroy remains one of the world’s best players, and has the ability to play himself right back into this tournament; his outward nine was proof of that. If he can minimize the mistakes and visits to the rough that torpedoed his second nine, he could play his way back into the tournament.
And if he does, maybe he’ll decide to let the world know how he did it.