Paolo UggettiJun 14, 2025, 04:36 PM ET
OAKMONT, Pa. -- When Rory McIlroy walked up to his ball, buried in the right rough of Oakmont Country Club's 18th fairway, all he could do was sigh.
With fans crowding around him and several TV cables obstructing his stance, a frustrated McIlroy pulled them off the ground himself and moved them. He quickly looked at the lie, grabbed a club and wedged it out of the thick clump of grass. After making two birdies in his last four holes Friday to make the cut, McIlroy bogeyed his final hole on Saturday to card a 74, pushing his score to 10-over for the week.
"Pretty average," McIlroy said when asked to describe his U.S. Open performance so far. "I was hoping to play better but I didn't."
For the first time since the tournament began, McIlroy agreed to speak to the media and said that, despite making the cut on Friday, he was unsure he even wanted to continue playing.
"It's much easier being on the cut line when you don't really care if you're here for the weekend or not," McIlroy said with a laugh. "I was sort of thinking, 'Do I really want two more days here or not?'"
Since winning the Masters and completing the career Grand Slam, McIlroy has alluded to a lack of motivation regarding his game. In his pre-tournament press conference, McIlroy said he has been "trying to find the motivation to go back out there and work as hard as I've been working" and has focused instead on taking time to enjoy his accomplishments after accomplishing a life-long dream.
"You don't really know how it's going to affect you," McIlroy said Saturday. "I have felt a little flat on the golf course afterwards."
At the RBC Canadian Open last week, McIlroy shot 71-78 and missed the cut. At the PGA Championship last month, McIlroy finished T-47 and declined speaking to the media during the tournament following news leaked that his driver was deemed nonconforming by USGA testing. This week at the U.S. Open, McIlroy declined speaking to the media on both Thursday and Friday.
"It's more a frustration with you guys," McIlroy said when asked if his poor play was contributing to that decision. "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."
While McIlroy didn't get more specific, he did say that part of his frustration had been the driver situation at Quail Hollow. Scottie Scheffler's driver was also deemed non-conforming that week and on Wednesday USGA CEO Mike Whan addressed the issue.
"I think when you talk about a rules violation or somebody who's playing with a hot driver that gets so much more sensational than the reality," Whan said. "I can tell you as a rules body, if we had concern about this incredible advantage, we would change the degree in which we test. But we think the testing that we're doing now is commensurate with the size of both the issue and the size of the reality of the issue."
McIlroy said he thinks he has driven it pretty well this week at Oakmont, where hitting the fairways is essential. Before the tournament began, McIlroy returned to the old Taylormade driver model he had been using at the Masters. Through three rounds, he has hit 55 percent of the fairways - just slightly above the field average - but he has lost nearly a shot to the field with his approach game.
"I actually feel like I've played okay this week," McIlroy said. "It's a sort of golf course where the tiniest mistakes get penalized a lot and that's sort of how it's felt this week."
How McIlroy feels - about his game, the golf course, if players should be obligated to speak to media and the current state of his career - has been a topic of much discussion as of late. McIlroy pointed out Saturday that he's normally been "totally available the last few years" and said that he's simply choosing to not be available as often.
"I'm not daring [the PGA Tour] to do anything," McIlroy said regarding player media availability, which he said he hopes doesn't get changed. "I feel like I've earned the right to do whatever I want to do."
So, what does McIlroy want heading into Sunday without a real shot to win the tournament?
"Hopefully a round in under four and a half hours," he said. "And get out of here."
