Rory McIlroy Breaks Silence on PGA Championship Incident

Just a few days before the PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy suffered an unfortunate break when he learned the driver he planned to use in the tournament was deemed "no longer permissible" and he was forced to make a change.

It was a tough weekend for McIlroy who entered the tournament as the second betting favorite behind Scottie Scheffler. In the end, the five-time major winner finished the tournament 3-over and 15 shots back of Scheffler, who went on to win the tournament.

In the midst of his poor performance, McIlroy opted not to speak with the media on any of the four days of competition. After missing the next two PGA Tour events, grand slam winner opened up on the unfortunate incident during a media session at the RBC Canadian Open on Wednesday, June 4.

"I was a little pissed off because I knew that Scottie's driver had failed on Monday, but my name was the one that was leaked," McIlroy said. "It was supposed to stay confidential. Two members of the media were the ones that leaked it. Again, I didn't want to get up there and say something that I regretted, either, because 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."

"With Scottie's stuff, that's not my information to share," he added. "I knew that that had happened, but that's not on me to share that. I felt that process is supposed to be kept confidential, and it wasn't for whatever reason. That's why I was pretty annoyed at that."

McIlroy went on to explain his decision to skip media sessions during the tournament as well.

"I didn't play well the first day, so I wanted to go practice, so that was fine," McIlroy said. "Second day, we finished late. I wanted to go back and see [daughter] Poppy before she went to bed. The driver news broke. I didn't really want to speak on that.

"Saturday, I was supposed to tee off at 8:20 in the morning. I didn't tee off until almost 2 o'clock in the afternoon, another late finish. [I] was just tired, wanted to go home. Then Sunday, I just wanted to get on the plane and go back to Florida."

The RBC Canadian Open comes before the third major tournament of the year, the U.S. Open, that will tee off on June 12.

Related: Rory McIlroy Sends Strong Message to Wife Erica Before PGA Championship