Rory McIlroy explains decision to duck media at PGA, saying he didn't want to discuss driver issue

CALEDON, Ontario (AP) — Rory McIlroy explained his decision not to speak to the media during last month's PGA Championship, saying Wednesday he was annoyed that news had leaked about his driver failing to pass inspection before the tournament.

McIlroy said the results of equipment tests are supposed to be confidential and noted that Scottie Scheffler's driver had also failed before the championship, but that was not reported until afterward. Scheffler revealed after he won the PGA for his third major title that he had been forced to use a backup driver.

“I didn’t want to get up there and say something that I regretted,” McIlroy said in a news conference at the Canadian Open, which begins Thursday. “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.”

It was a strange week for McIlroy, who arrived at the PGA as the most celebrated player in golf after he completed the career Grand Slam with his triumph at the Masters. Instead of taking a victory lap at Quail Hollow — a course where he has won four times — McIlroy was in a bad mood all week, and his refusal to discuss the driver test was much debated.

McIlroy gave a day-by-day breakdown of his decisions not to talk to reporters, saying he wanted to practice after his poor first round. He finished his second round late and wanted to put his daughter, Poppy, to bed. He didn't want to talk about his driver, he was tired after his weather-delayed third round, and after his week concluded with a tie for 47th place, he just wanted to go home.

He reiterated that PGA Tour players are not required to speak to the media.

“I talk to the media a lot,” McIlroy said. “I think there should be an understanding that this is a two-way street, and as much as we need to speak to you guys — we understand the benefit that comes from you being here and giving us the platform and everything else, I understand that — but again, I’ve been beating this drum for a long time.

“If they want to make it mandatory, that’s fine, but in our rules it says that it’s not, and until the day that that’s maybe written into the regulations, you’re going to have guys skip from time to time, and that’s well within our rights.”

McIlroy also declined to talk to reporters after he blew a late lead and lost to Bryson DeChambeau in last year's U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

He's a two-time winner of the Canadian Open, and he skipped a PGA Tour signature event last week at the Memorial to play in Canada as his tuneup for next week's U.S. Open at Oakmont.

Whether he'll be interested in discussing his performance at the storied western Pennsylvania venue remains to be seen.

“If we all wanted to, we could all bypass you guys and we could just go on this,” McIlroy said, holding up his phone. “We could go on social media and we could talk about our round and do it our own way.

“We understand that that’s not ideal for you guys and there’s a bigger dynamic at play here.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Rory McIlroy looks on during the pro-am at the Canadian Open Golf golf tournament, Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Caledon, Ontario. (Peter Power/The Canadian Press via AP)

Rory McIlroy approaches the green during the pro-am at the Canadian Open Golf golf tournament, Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Caledon, Ontario. (Peter Power/The Canadian Press via AP)

Rory McIlroy watches his ball after a swing during the pro-am at the Canadian Open Golf golf tournament, Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Caledon, Ontario. (Peter Power/The Canadian Press via AP)

Rory McIlroy signs autographs for young fans during the pro-am at the Canadian Open Golf golf tournament, Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Caledon, Ontario. (Peter Power/The Canadian Press via AP)

BERLIN (AP) — European leaders are expected to cement support for Ukraine Monday as it faces Washington’s pressure to swiftly accept a U.S.-brokered peace deal.

After Sunday’s talks in Berlin between U.S. envoys and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian and European officials are set to continue a series of meetings in an effort to secure the continent’s peace and security in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia.

Zelenskyy sat down Sunday with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in the German federal chancellery in the hopes of bringing the nearly four-year war to a close.

Washington has tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.

The U.S. government late Sunday said in a social media post on Witkoff’s account after the five-hour meeting that “a lot of progress was made.”

Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy voiced readiness to drop his country’s bid to join NATO if the U.S. and other Western nations give Kyiv security guarantees similar to those offered to NATO members. But Ukraine continued to reject the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia.

Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the part of the Donetsk region still under its control among the key conditions for peace.

The Russian president also has cast Ukraine’s bid to join NATO as a major threat to Moscow’s security and a reason for launching the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine renounce the bid for alliance membership as part of any prospective peace settlement.

Zelenskyy emphasized that any Western security assurances would need to be legally binding and supported by the U.S. Congress.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has spearheaded European efforts to support Ukraine alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said Saturday that “the decades of the ‘Pax Americana’ are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well.”

“Pax Americana” refers to the U.S.’s postwar dominance as a superpower that has brought relative peace to the globe.

Merz warned that Putin’s aim is “a fundamental change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the old Soviet Union within its borders.”

“If Ukraine falls, he won’t stop,” Merz warned during a party conference in Munich.

Macron, meanwhile, vowed Sunday on social platform X that “France is, and will remain, at Ukraine’s side to build a robust and lasting peace — one that can guarantee Ukraine’s security and sovereignty, and that of Europe, over the long term.”

Putin has denied plans to attack any European allies.

__

Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland.

Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, leaves through a hotel garage for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz,stands in his office in the chancellory in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Maryam Majd)

Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine, at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

Jared Kushner, entrepreneur and former chief adviser to President Donald Trump, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, watches Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arriving at the chancellory in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Maryam Majd)