The Co Down man has spoken at length about his struggles to motivate himself after achieving his life’s goal by winning the Masters and completing the career Grand Slam.
He even admitted that he wondered during Friday’s battling 72 if he really wanted to be around for the weekend for two more days of pain at the punishing Pittsburgh track and sounded like a man struggling to come to terms with the aftermath of his achievement at Augusta National more than any perceived media slight.
“Pretty average,” McIlroy said when asked to sum up rounds of 74, 72 and 74 that left him tied for 53rd in the clubhouse on 10-over.
Patience is paramount at Oakmont but without his A-game the Holywood star confessed that it was a struggle from the get-go and his patience also appears to have run out with elements of the media following the reporting of his non-conforming driver at the PGA Championship last month.
Asked if his refusal to speak after all four rounds at Quail Hollow and the first two rounds at Oakmont were due to frustration with his play, he said: “No, not really. It’s more a frustration with you guys.
“I’m just, yeah, I don’t know. I’ve been totally available for the last few years, and I’m not saying — maybe not you guys, but maybe more just the whole thing.”
Rory McIlroy cut a frustrated figure yet again at Oakmont yesterday. Photo: Charles LeClaire
He admitted the driver issue was a factor but media burnout sounded a more plausible explanation.
“I mean, that was a part of it,” he said of the driver issue, where he was the only player named following his failed driver test at Quail Hollow and later admitted he was “a little pissed off” as Scottie Scheffler’s driver had also been ruled non-conforming.
“Yeah, that was a part of it. But it’s not as if — like at Augusta I skipped you guys on Thursday, so yeah, again, it’s not if as if — it’s not out of the ordinary. I’ve done it before; I’m just doing it a little more often.”
Surrounded by reporters and TV crews in stifling heat, McIlroy said he felt like he’d earned the right to dodge the media when he felt like it.
“I feel like I’ve earned the right to do whatever I want to do, yeah,” he said, adding that while he’d said he’d skip when he felt like it unless the tour made it obligatory, he wasn’t deliberately daring them to do so.
“No, I’m not daring them to do anything,” he said. “I hope they don’t change it because [skipping]… it’s a nice luxury to have. But I’m just pointing out the fact that we have the ability to do it.”
The come down after winning the Masters is clearly a factor in McIlroy’s current mental state.
“Yeah, I alluded to it in my pre-tournament press conference,” he said. “You don’t really know how it’s going to affect you. You don’t know how you’re going to react to such a — I wouldn’t say a life-altering occasion—but at least something that I’ve dreamt about for a long time. Yeah, I alluded to the fact that I have felt a little flat on the golf course afterwards.”
That manifested itself in his play on a course that tries a player’s patience like no other.
“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,” he said.
While he felt he drove the ball better than he had in some time, he found Oakmont a difficult mental test in terms of the penalty paid for mistakes.
“I was hoping to play better but I didn’t,” he said, adding that his best play emerged late on Friday when he was fighting to make the cut.
“Yeah, it’s funny, like it’s much easier being on the cut line when you don’t really care if you’re here for the weekend or not,” he joked.
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“I was sort of thinking, do I really want two more days here or not. So it makes it easier to play better when you’re in that mindset.
“I actually feel like I’ve played okay this week. It’s a sort of golf course where the tiniest mistakes get penalised a lot and that’s sort of how it’s felt this week.
“It’s very difficult. You’ve got to be on every single shot. You know if you miss a fairway you’re going to be scrambling for par. You know if you miss your landing spot even coming from the fairways by a couple yards, these greens repel the ball into rough and you’re up against collars and it just makes things very, very tricky. So, yeah, you got to be totally on your game.”
He had a chance on a rain-softened course to make a third-round move but bogeyed the third and dropped another shot at the ninth after driving into a drain and taking a penalty drop.
While he birdied the 10th, he bogeyed the 11th, 14th and 16th after missing greens and followed a sand-save birdie at the 17th with a bogey at the last after finding more rough from the tee.
As for his hopes for today, he did little to dispel the air of doom and gloom. “Hopefully a round in under four-and-a-half hours and get out of here,” he said, before walking away.
Meanwhile, Robert MacIntyre has “100 per cent” belief he can win the US Open after an impressive third round at Oakmont.
MacIntyre described his opening round level-par 70 as one of the best of his life, but he bettered it just 48 hours later.
The Scot, from Oban, put in a controlled performance to card a 69, to sit on three over, six shots behind leaders Sam Burns and JJ Spaun when they were midway through their third round.
It might have been even better for MacIntyre as he had got down to one over after 12 holes but a spate of bogeys in the final six holes saw him drift back out.
But he still believes he is in contention win a first major.
Asked if he can win, he replied: “One hundred per cent. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe that, it’s a simple answer, yes.”
It is as you were for world number one Scottie Scheffler, who carded an even-par 70.
Scheffler maintained he was still in contention after Friday’s second round but failed to make any ground on the leaders, his three birdies cancelled out by three bogeys.