By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Sports Editor
He rallied with no pressure and then choked with a major on the line. Rory McIlroy blew a two-shot lead with five holes to play – missing close putts on two of the final three holes – in the 2024 U.S. Open. He lost by a stroke to Bryson DeChambeau.
There is no shame in choking. It’s part of the game. Heck, Greg Norman practically made a career of it. Arnold Palmer, as great as he was, famously lost a seven shot lead on the back nine to a U.S. Open.
There is, however, shame in what McIlroy did after he choked. He left. He did not congratulate DeChambeau and he not only turned down an interview with NBC but did not go to the press conference or talk to any reporters.
Instead, within an hour of DeChambeau’s incredible shot from the sand and made putt to win the title, he was on a private jet headed home to Florida.
Not congratulating DeChambeau was an act of poor sportsmanship if ever there was one. Ducking the media was an act of an immature coward.
As a sportswriter for daily newspapers and the Associated Press earlier in my career, I cannot stand it when players or coaches don’t talk to the media after a loss. What are they afraid of, that their collapse will get even worse? We’re not wild animals. We have respect for the pressure they face in big moments. And we certainly don’t want a player or coach to blow up and yell at us. Going into winning locker rooms are always more pleasurable than going into losing locker rooms.
But stand up and be a man. Show your face and answer a few questions. It’s your job, too. Part of your salary involves exposure and you are happy to make yourself available when things go good, but you disappear when things are tough.
McIlroy is hardly alone in this child-like behavior. UCLA basketball coach Mick Cronin sent his assistant to meet the media after a loss this pase season. USC quarterback Caleb Williams cried to his mom in the stands after a loss then avoided the press. Side note: I heard from some USC insiders that his immaturity and selfishness caused such a riff with the players that the offensive line stopped blocking for him. He often sat alone on the sidelines during games. Well, he’s the problem of the Chicago Bears now.
In his last year at Tennessee, “brick by brick” coach Butch Jones forced his quarterback to face the media after an embarrassing loss to Vanderbilt.
Palmer talked to the media. Norman always answered questions after his catastrophic collapses. But all we saw of McIlroy was him sulking after DeChambeau’s winning putt then leaving the scorecard room with his caddy.
I watched and read as the media ignored this slight. They all talked about “how tough a loss it was for him” but they did not do their jobs as reporters. They acted as fans. Only Scott Van Pelt addressed it.
Well I am here to say that athletes and coaches should talk to the media after tough losses as well as after big wins. If not, then as fans you need to realize they are not heroes but immature cowards.