Rory McIlroy makes surprise decision after PGA Championship blow

So what went through Rory McIlroy’s mind during his eventful week at the PGA Championship?

Well, we’re still none the wiser.

For the fourth straight day, McIlroy has declined post-round media duties at Quail Hollow.

The Masters champion made a quick getaway from the Charlotte course after finishing the second major three-over par, his worst performance in this event since missing the cut in 2016.

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Many had expected McIlroy to finally speak out on Sunday on the controversy that emerged on Friday following the news he had arrived in North Carolina with a non-conforming driver.

McIlroy’s trusty TaylorMade QI10 failed to pass a random USGA inspection on Tuesday, meaning he had to swap out his beloved weapon just hours before getting under way.

He went on to hit just four from 14 fairways in his first round and struggled on from the tee as he scraped past the cut mark without ever hitting form throughout the week.

The PGA of America has since clarified that the USGA governing body tests around a third of the drivers in the field and that they had no concern about McIlroy’s “intent.”

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“Finding driver heads that have crept over the line of conformance is not an unusual occurrence, especially for clubs that are hit thousands of times over a long period of time,” read a statement from Kerry Haigh, the PGA of America’s Chief Championships Officer on Saturday.

“The results are kept confidential to protect players, who are unaware the club has fallen out of conformance and not responsible for it falling out of conformance other than hitting the club thousands of times.

“Players are simply asked to change heads if necessary, and all do without issue.

“To publicly identify players whose club did not conform can lead to that player being questioned unnecessarily. Neither the USGA nor the PGA of America have any concerns about player intent.”

But McIlroy, in a somewhat unprecedented move, has prolonged his silence on his side of the story for an entire week.

McIlroy’s next outing is likely to be the Memorial Tournament, before heading north to the Canadian Open on the eve of the US Open at Oakmont.

Ben Parsons is the Senior Writer at bunkered and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.