Pro golfers skipping out on media interviews becoming the new norm. It's not good for fans

USA Today

15 hours ago

Pro golfers skipping out on media interviews becoming the new norm. It's not good for fans
OAKMONT, Pa. – When Sam Burns lost a four-hole sudden-death playoff Sunday at the RBC Canadian Open, he joined a growing list of PGA Tour players who have declined to speak to the media after a disappointing loss.
Asked to explain his decision, he said on Friday, 'It was 7:30, (son) Bear was trying to go to sleep and we had a flight out here and I didn't want to delay that any further.'
In his defense, he had spoken about his final-round 62 hours earlier when he finished and the Canadian media didn't express too much disappointment. Winner Ryan Fox was their story.
But as a result, fans never got to hear what Burns thought about the Tour moving the hole location on 18 during the playoff or if he misread the 6-footer he missed for the win on the first playoff hole. Or several other possible questions. Had he stopped to talk to Golf Channel or given a Tour media official a couple sound quotes to be distributed, the delay in catching his flight wouldn't have been more than a matter of minutes. [Traveling with a toddler and trying to get them to sleep is no joke but the media stop also is part of the job that earned him more than $1 million for four days of work. And another reason why this was an especially bad look: he's a RBC ambassador.]
PGA Tour players not meeting media is becoming more common
But Burns's decision to skip media is becoming the new norm, according to Golf Channel's Paul McGinley and Brandel Chamblee, two former players turned media members who addressed the subject yet again on Golf Channel's 'Live From' on Thursday night.
Earlier this year, Collin Morikawa blew off the media after finishing second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and then said, 'I don't owe anyone anything.' Shane Lowry complained that there should be a cool-down period before meeting with the media after a tense exchange with the media at the Masters. And Rory McIlroy, who bolted without talking after last year's U.S. Open heartbreak, froze out the media after all four rounds of the PGA Championship last month. McIlroy also didn't speak after Thursday's first round at Oakmont at the U.S. Open, the fifth straight round at a major that he had reporters circling outside of scoring to ask him the questions that fans want answered and he gave the media the Heisman. [Golf Channel also reported that Phil Mickelson declined interview requests this week.]
'He's got something going on with the media. I'm not quite sure what it is,' McGinley said of McIlroy. 'This is arguably the best guy that the game has seen in the last decade with the media, and all of a sudden, he's turned his back against it and is not doing anything so there's something going on there.'
McGinley and Chamblee have called out this disturbing trend multiple times this year, beginning at the Players Championship in March, and remain concerned that it is setting a dangerous precedence.
'Remember, golf is competing against other sports, not just within its own environment. It's competing against NFL and the MLS and baseball and all these other sports. You need to have your top players making comments. Good, bad, or indifferent, it's an important part of the product of golf, let's just call it that,' said McGinley.
To illustrate his point, McGinley pointed to the French Open tennis final, a match that lasted more than four fours before Carlos Alcaraz rallied to defeat Jannik Sinner.
'Arguably the greatest tennis match ever played. To lose that game must've been devastating for Sinner and yet he went out and he made a speech. The people will remember that speech, in loss, more than they will Alcaraz winning. That's the importance of it because there's emotion attached to somebody and when somebody's not having a good day – everybody can be great on a good day and particularly when you're not on a good day to be able to explain it and show humility like Sinner did, it draws more people in,' McGinley said. 'I'm more of a fan of Sinner now than I was before that interview and that's why it was important. For the business of golf, I think it's important. And this is not a hit on Rory, it's a hit on everybody and I think the mistake lies not so much with Rory or Morikawa or anybody that doesn't do it. The mistake lies with golf and why isn't golf mandating these guys to do it. They're playing for ridiculously high prize funds week on week on week. They've got to give a little bit back good, bad, or indifferent, it needs to be mandated to say, 'Look guys, we really need you to do this for the good of the game and for the good of the tournament.''
'They're not saying 'no' to us. They're saying 'no' to the audience'
Chamblee and McGinley are at their best when they present opposing point of views but on this subject, they remain in lockstep.
'The last thing you wanted to do is alienate the audience that pays to watch you play. And they're not saying no to us, they're saying no to the audience. So Rory is arguably – he and Tiger, but Tiger doesn't play much – so Rory is the most popular player in the world and if he's turning his back on the world that's interested in him, well it runs the risk of one: setting the precedent so that all the other players feel empowered to be able to do something like that,' Chamblee argued. 'It sends a message to the audience, they're like, 'Are these guys getting too spoiled and too entitled?' Because when you look at Colin Morikawa what he said, you look at Shane Lowry saying he doesn't need to talk to the media. Sam Burns didn't talk last week when he lost - to your point about Sinner - he lost, walked right off, didn't talk to anybody and now Rory for five consecutive major championship (rounds). So I would just say it's disappointing. He's arguably the media's favorite person and when he does talk, we all learn and the game gets better. He's in a great spot to send a message to people like, 'Let's cooperate. Golf's on a high.' He's in a great spot to do that and I hope he reconsiders his position and starts talking more.'
'That's the point we made at the TPC,' McGinley concluded. 'The worry was that new norms are being created and it looks like there is a new norm.'