Six-time PGA Tour winner says Rory McIlroy should address the public: ‘It would be done’

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Rory McIlroy’s year should have been defined by a career milestone, but instead it’s unravelled into a series of self-inflicted controversies.

In April, McIlroy completed the Career Grand Slam by finally winning The Masters, but rather than kicking on from there, the Northern Irishman has regressed — and many of his issues have been of his own making.

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The first major controversy arrived in early May, when it was revealed just before the PGA Championship that his driver had been ruled non-conforming. Unlike other players in the same boat, his name was leaked to the press.

McIlroy was upset by that — and responded by shunning the media, staying silent after rounds for several weeks. At the same time, his form dipped significantly. But observers have also suggested that Rory’s motivation has tailed off since completing the Grand Slam.

Gary Koch hits out at the way McIlroy has handled his recent problems

Six-time PGA Tour winner Gary Koch, now a regular on-course commentator, has been surprised by how McIlroy has handled the situation — and believes it could be resolved easily.

Speaking on Claude Harmon’s Son of a Butch podcast, Koch said Rory only needed to make one clear statement to set the record straight.

“Do one interview and just say, ‘Hey, look, you know, I feel like I was treated unfairly. I know other guys’ drivers were not conforming. I don’t like the fact that you guys made such a big deal out of the fact that mine was non-conforming,’” Koch said.

“And then it would be over, you know, it would be done. I will say, I think he’s in a strange place, you know, after achieving this lifelong goal of this career grand slam and winning the Masters after 16 attempts or whatever it was. And he’s, you know, he’s struggling a little bit to get reset and come up with new goals and everything else.”

Koch also believes the non-conforming driver wasn’t a serious performance advantage — a sentiment echoed by the USGA’s explanation of the testing process.

“At the velocities and at the frequency at which they hit these clubs, they will just relax over time,” Whan explained.

“If I’m being honest with you, I think in terms of what happened at the PGA Championship, it made us more committed to not wanting to have this be the topic of the town because I think when you talked about a rules violation or somebody who’s playing with a hot driver, that gets so much more sensational than the reality.”

Whan added that if the USGA believed there was a real performance gap, testing protocols would be changed accordingly.

So given all that, many in golf have been left wondering whether McIlroy made too much of the situation — even if he had every right to be frustrated about the leak.

He’s still the reigning Masters champion and one of the most influential players in the game. But if he truly wants to put the controversy behind him, a short statement — as Koch suggested — might be all it takes.