Do Pros Owe The Media Anything? No. But They Owe The Fans

Last week at the PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy made what many considered to be the wrong kind of headlines.

McIlroy was never a contender at Quail Hollow, a course where he has won four times in his illustrious career. Coincidentally, four was also the number of times he skipped post-round media opportunities during the tournament. He was requested each tournament day but chose to turn those requests down.

It was curious timing. For one, McIlroy just won the Masters last month to complete the career grand slam. One would think a subpar performance in the following major wouldn’t be frustrating enough to warrant him not talking to the press every day of the tournament.

But it also came to light last week that McIlroy’s TaylorMade Qi10 “Dot” driver he used to win the Masters had failed the legality test prior to the tournament.

This isn’t really that big of a deal. Drivers are regularly (and randomly) tested for coefficient of restitution (COR) because repeated wearing of the face can cause a trampoline effect and add distance to drives.

If a player uses a driver for long enough, eventually it won’t be legal anymore. There is really no controversy here. Pros find a driver that works and play it until they can’t.

PGA Championship winner Scottie Scheffler’s driver failed the test prior to winning his third major last week. He confirmed the news on Sunday evening, saying it was “no big deal.”

“We had a feeling that it was going to be coming because I’ve used that driver for over a year. I was kind of fortunate for it to last that long.”

But there were two key differences between Scheffler and McIlroy last week. One is that Scheffler found a replacement driver that worked well enough for him to coast to a PGA Championship crown. Meanwhile, McIlroy was all out of sorts off the tee.

The other difference was that Scheffler addressed it in the media while McIlroy didn’t.

And because McIlroy strangely eschewed media, the absence turned a non-story into a headline about the validity of his Masters win. It also, as similar situations have done in the past, made McIlroy seem a little pouty and headstrong.

Instead of giving fans context, he left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths—the same people who just celebrated him a month earlier.

What do players owe the media?

There has been a recurring question in golf over the past few months about what players owe the media—if they owe them anything at all.

A lot of this was sparked when Collin Morikawa had a bad final round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and then left Bay Hill without saying anything. It was a similar scene to how McIlroy quickly abandoned last year’s U.S. Open after faltering late at Pinehurst.

Morikawa doubled down (and then later tripled down) when questioned about leaving.

“Like I don’t owe anyone anything,” Morikawa said a few days later at the Players Championship. “No offense to you guys but for me in the moment of that time, I didn’t want to be around anyone. Like, I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t need any ‘sorries’. I didn’t need any ‘good playings.’ Like, you’re just pissed.”

Prior to the Masters, McIlroy vouched for Morikawa and gave a matter-of-fact statement about how PGA Tour pros have no contractual obligation to appease the media.

“Every other athlete, whether it be in the NBA, NFL, they are obligated to speak to you guys after a game. We’re not (obligated). Whether that is something the PGA Tour looks into to put into their rules and regulations … but as long as that is not the case and we have that option to opt out whenever we want, expect guys to do that from time to time.”

If that wasn’t enough, Shane Lowry made a stink about being asked questions (a few too many being about McIlroy) right after a difficult round at the Masters. Lowry suggested that players need a “cooling-off period” prior to talking to the press.

And then McIlroy pretty much ignored all media responsibilities last week in Charlotte.

The players are right but they are missing the point

Look, the players are not technically wrong here.

They have the right to avoid interviews whereas most other athletes have contractual obligations to talk to the media.

And it’s valid that other athletes get more time to decompress before the media bombards them with questions. In golf, you could be giving an interview mere minutes after a heartbreaking loss which isn’t necessarily fair. I would definitely be in favor of players having the option of waiting an extra 20 minutes to do media.

On top of all of this, it’s important to note that, as Morikawa said, the players don’t owe the media in the sense that the whole entertainment product of the Tour is dependent on one specific interview.

McIlroy has given more interviews than any golfer on the planet over the last five years. I think we can all get by if he wants to take a pass every once in a while.

I’ve been a media member for 15 years. There are a lot of boring, softball questions. If I had a nickel for every mind-numbingly dull press conference I’ve attended, it would put a serious dent in my mortgage payment.

Most press conferences don’t offer much in terms of notable quotes or giving us perspective on someone’s personality. And, to be honest, these golfers don’t need writers like they used to need them.

Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus used to sit down forever with reporters. They used to be legitimate friends with some of them. Writers were the gateway to how the game was processed by spectators.

That’s not the case anymore. Scheffler did more for his image with one YouTube video than he could do with 10 articles.

You, the MyGolfSpy reader, don’t need me to wax poetic about professional golfers in order to learn about them (although hopefully some of you still enjoy it when I do).

The players are right. They don’t need to talk to the media to get paid. And they don’t owe the media anything.

If they all stopped doing interviews today, the product of professional golf could, theoretically, soldier forward in largely the same form. Golfers would probably make their money and writers would probably figure out how to tell stories.

But players now owe the fans something

I think some of the players have been taking a myopic view of this.

Here is the real question we should be asking: What do the players owe the fans of golf?

These are all the people who have been supporting the professional game despite it turning into a greedy, messy cash grab with way more money and way less personality.

The players owe these people, in my opinion. They owe you.

Whether it’s right or wrong, when a player like McIlroy or Morikawa storms off without talking to the media, we all start to look at them differently.

It makes them seem ungrateful for the position they hold in the game.

Do you think Palmer or Nicklaus would have stormed off after losing a major? No. That scenario happened to them at majors several times and they stayed to answer the questions. They explained how they failed. They showed class and dignity.

Why? Because it adds to the storytelling of the event. It adds context and layers and interest. It’s good for golf.

Some of the game’s most iconic quotes are in the aftermath of losses. Phil Mickelson gave the “I’m such an idiot” quote right after blowing the 2006 U.S. Open. It told a descriptive story of heartbreak and anger.

If you asked him three weeks later, he wouldn’t have said that. And his quotes would have been way less insightful.

The fans deserve insight into who these golfers are as human beings. And, like it or not, some of the greatest insights come after a golfer’s worst moments.

These guys are getting paid obscene amounts of money. They are entertainers. Their golf skill is worthless if there is no entertainment element to it.

That is the job you signed up for, man. You get paid millions and we get to watch.

If players genuinely care about the game as a whole—if they truly care about the fans and how they are perceived by them—they will do media when it’s most uncomfortable.

And maybe the players simply do not care enough for that. But the backside of their decision is that we all get to fairly criticize them for their actions. It’s totally justified to criticize McIlroy and Morikawa.

Fans get to think that maybe some of these guys are a little weak mentally. Maybe they are a little soft.

And if those same players stepped up to the podium after blowing a tournament and faced the music, they would definitely endear themselves to fans and peers. That transparency is why players like Max Homa and Sahith Theegala have passionate followings. And why someone like Justin Rose, who gave several beautiful interviews right after losing this year’s Masters, is deeply respected.

If McIlroy had given one five-minute presser on Sunday afternoon last week at the PGA, he could have explained the driver situation. He could have explained why he played poorly.

Did we all need to hear him? No. But we wanted to hear him.

By him not talking, it wasn’t the media that suffered. The media got to write about his decision which was a much bigger story than if he had just given the interview.

No, McIlroy didn’t owe a single thing to the media.

He owed it all to the fans.