Rory McIlroy ‘pulls out of pro-am at The Memorial for “personal reasons”‘ after withdrawing from media duties as spotlight shines on athletes’ relationship with the media days after Naomi Osaka quit the French Open
- Rory McIlroy has reportedly pulled out of Wednesday’s The Memorial pro-am
- The Northern Irishman withdrew from media duties, the PGA confirmed
- According to reports, McIlroy has pulled out of the pro-am for ‘personal reasons’
- This development comes days after Naomi Osaka withdrew from Roland Garros
Rory McIlroy has reportedly pulled out of Wednesday’s pro-am after cancelling his press conference ahead of The Memorial at Muirfield Village.
The PGA confirmed that McIlroy would not fulfil his media obligations, although the organisation had not provided a reason for the 32-year-old’s absence.
And according to Rex Hoggard of the Golf Channel, ‘personal reasons’ have resulted in him withdrawing from the pro-am in Dublin.
Rory McIlroy has reportedly pulled out of pro-am ahead of The Memorial at Muirfield Village
This development comes just 48 hours after Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open after initially being hit with a fine for refusing to attend her pre-tournament press conference, before organisers threatened to disqualify her altogether.
The Japanese superstar later explained that she would exit the Roland Garros tournament to take time to deal with mental health issues.
The finer details of McIlroy’s reasoning remains unclear, while it is not yet known whether the Norther Irishman will compete at The Memorial as he looks to respond to his poor showing at the PGA Championship.
McIlroy scraped into the top 50, only a fortnight after winning at Quail Hollow – his first victory in 18 months.
The Northern Irishman withdrew from media duties ahead of the event, the PGA announced
He has reportedly pulled out for ‘personal reasons’ and endured a poor PGA Championship
Osaka has won swathes of support from the sporting world after she revealed her mental health struggles on Monday afternoon in a strong social media message.
She said: ‘I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris.
‘I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer. More importantly I would never trivialise mental health or use the term lightly.
The latest development comes days after Naomi Osaka pulled out of the French Open
The World No 2 cited mental health reasons after she refused to attend press conferences
‘The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that. Anyone that knows me knows I’m introverted, and anyone that has seen me at the tournaments will notice that I’m often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety.
‘Though the tennis press has always been kind to me (and I wanna apologise especially to all the cool journalists who I may have hurt), I am not a natural public speaker and get huge waves of anxiety before I speak to the world’s media.
‘So here in Paris I was already feeling vulnerable and anxious so I thought it was better to exercise self-care and skip the press conferences. I announced it pre-emptively because I do feel like the rules are quite outdated in parts and I wanted to highlight that.
‘I’m gonna take some time away from the court now, but when the time is right I really want to work with the tour to discuss ways we can make things better for the players, press and fans.’