Rory McIlroy 'Was a Little Pissed Off' About Driver News Leaking at PGA Championship

Rory McIlroy explained Wednesday that a major reason he didn't speak to the media during the PGA Championship last month was because he was not pleased news leaked of his driver being ruled nonconforming in testing.

"I was a little pissed off because I knew that Scottie's driver had failed on Monday, but my name was the one that was leaked," McIlroy told reporters (h/t ESPN's Mark Schlabach). "It was supposed to stay confidential. Two members of the media were the ones that leaked it.

"Again, I didn't want to get up there and say something that I regretted, either, because I'm trying to protect Scottie. I don't want to mention his name. I'm trying to protect TaylorMade. I'm trying to protect the USGA, PGA of America, myself."

As McIlroy noted, Scottie Scheffler's driver was also ruled nonconforming during testing—news that was not made public.

However, it was reported during the second round that McIlroy's driver returned the same results, which meant he couldn't use it during the tournament.

"With Scottie's stuff, that's not my information to share," McIlroy said. "I knew that that had happened, but that's not on me to share that. I felt that process is supposed to be kept confidential, and it wasn't for whatever reason. That's why I was pretty annoyed at that."

As for Scheffler, he said he "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, I felt like."

That didn't stop Scheffler from taking home the title at Quail Hollow with a tournament score of 11-under. He finished five strokes ahead of the field in a dominant showing.

The world's No. 1 golfer remained dialed in this past weekend with a victory at the Memorial Tournament, which gave him three wins since the start of May. As for McIlroy, he did not participate in the Memorial Tournament but is scheduled to tee off Thursday at the RBC Canadian Open.

Regardless of what happens the rest of this year, it has been a successful season for McIlroy.

He won the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam and etch his name in golfing history. He also won a signature event at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the prestigious Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

However, his driver situation made headlines at the PGA Championship as he finished in a tie for 47th place. 

And he wasn't happy about it.