Rory McIlroy Avoids Divorce Talk During Extremely Short PGA Championship Press Conference

Published|Updated

Rory McIlroy's news conference Wednesday at Valhalla ahead of the PGA Championship began with the moderator stating that the four-time major winner would not be making any comments about the recent news of his divorce from wife Erica Stoll.

From there, McIlroy was asked just seven total questions in what turned into what may have been the shortest formal presser of his career. Short pressers at major championships are suddenly becoming a trend for McIlroy given that he was asked just eight questions during his official press conference ahead of the Masters in April.

Rory McIlroy is getting divorced. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

During his presser at Valhalla, Barstool Sports' Dan Rapaport did attempt to sneak in a question to McIlroy about his personal life by simply asking, "on a personal level, how are you doing?"

McIlroy wasn't having it, and answered by saying "I'm ready to play this week" before moving on.

While McIlroy was completely mum about his personal life, he did provide a grim update when it comes to ongoing negotiations between the PGA Tour and Saudi PIF.

READ: Rory McIlroy's Divorce Lawyer Has A History Of Representing Celebrities During Splits

Jimmy Dunne, a close friend of McIlroy and the architect of the PGA Tours - Saudi PIF agreement, resigned from the PGA Tour policy board earlier this week. In his resignation letter, Dunne said that he felt his role was "utterly superfluous" noting that he hadn't been asked to take part in negotiation since the agreement between the two sides was formally announced June 6, 2023.

McIlroy made it clear, that in his opinion, Dunne's resignation was a negative for everyone involved.

"Jimmy was basically "the" relationship, the sort of conduit between the PGA TOUR and PIF. It's been really unfortunate that he has not been involved for the last few months, and I think part of the reason that everything is stalling at the minute is because of that. So it is, it's really, really disappointing, and you know, I think the TOUR is in a worse place because of it," McIlroy explained. 

"We'll see. We'll see where it goes from here and we'll see what happens. But you know, I would say my confidence level on something getting done before last week was, you know, as low as it had been and then with this news of Jimmy resigning and knowing the relationship he has with the other side, and how much warmth there is from the other side, it's concerning."

That's the last thing anyone wanted to hear. Whether it be players, fans, and media members sick of talking about it, an update about negotiations between the Tour and Saudis essentially moving backward with Dunne's resignation is bad news for everyone.

Tags
Written by

Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.