Rory McIlroy has defended his choice to skip post-round interviews once more through the US Open and mentioned he has “earned the right to do whatever” after his Grand Slam success.
McIlroy turned simply the sixth participant to finish the profession Grand Slam by ending his 11-year await main glory with a dramatic play-off victory at The Masters in April, his third PGA Tour win of the season.
The world No 2 declined the media for all 4 rounds of the PGA Championship, the place studies of his driver being deemed non-conforming turned public, with McIlroy electing to keep away from post-round interviews after the primary two days of this week’s main at Oakmont Nation Membership.
McIlroy stuttered into the weekend on six over after rounds of 74 and 72, with the five-time main champion explaining his “frustration” when chatting with journalists after a third-round 74 dropped him additional down the leaderboard.
“That [the driver issue at the PGA Championship] was a part of it [not doing media],” McIlroy advised reporters. “At Augusta I skipped you guys on Thursday, so yeah, again, it’s not out of the ordinary. I’ve done it before – I’m just doing it a little more often.”
Rory McIlroy was chasing a second main victory of the 12 months
When requested why he was taking that stance, McIlroy added: “I really feel like I’ve earned the best to do no matter I need to do.
“I’m not daring them [the PGA Tour, who don’t enforce speaking to the media] to do anything. I hope they don’t change it because it’s a nice luxury to have. I’m just pointing out the fact that we have the ability to do it.”
McIlroy ‘did not actually care’ about making US Open lower
The 36-year-old beforehand revealed it had been “hard to find the motivation to get back on the horse and go again” since his Grand Slam success, with a tied-Forty seventh end on the PGA Championship adopted by a missed lower on the RBC Canadian Open.
McIlroy was at risk of an early US Open exit after carding two double bogeys in his first three holes on Friday morning, with the Northern Irishman needing two late birdies simply to keep away from lacking the lower for a second successive week.
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Rory McIlroy made two double-bogeys in his first three holes at the beginning of his second spherical, dropping him from 4 over to eight over
“I alluded to it in my pre-tournament press conference, you don’t really know how it’s going to affect you,” he mentioned. “You don’t know how you’re going to react to something that I’ve dreamt about for a long time. I alluded to the fact that, yeah, I have felt a little flat on the golf course afterwards.
“It is humorous, prefer it’s a lot simpler being on the lower line when you do not actually care in case you’re right here for the weekend or not. I used to be type of considering, ‘do I actually need two extra days right here or not?’. So it makes it simpler to play higher while you’re in that mindset.”
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Rory McIlroy made a birdie on his ultimate gap of the second spherical to ensure a spot for the weekend
McIlroy has completed no worse than ninth in his earlier six US Open appearances and ended runner-up every of the final two years, though seems to be set to finish that run after every week he described as “pretty average”.
“The name of the game this week is staying patient and try to do a good job of it out there, but it’s one of those golf courses that you can lose patience on pretty quickly,” McIlroy shared.
McIlroy carded two birdies and 6 bogeys throughout his third spherical at Oakmont
“I’ve driven the ball better. I’ve driven the ball as good as I have in a long time, so that’s at least a positive this week. I was hoping to play better, but I didn’t.”
When requested how McIlroy hoped to complete his US Open marketing campaign, he closed with: “Hopefully a round in under four and a half hours and get out of here.”
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