Entertainment
I’ve earned the right to do whatever I want to do – McIlroy
Rory McIlroy says he has “earned the right to do whatever I want to do” after skipping media interviews following his opening two rounds of what he called a “pretty average” US Open performance.
The Masters champion spoke to the media for the first time since the tournament started after Saturday’s four-over 74 pushed him back to 10 over par after three rounds.
McIlroy said he hoped Sunday’s final round will be a case of taking “four and a half hours and out of here” to put a disappointing week behind him.
The 36-year-old has cut a frustrated figure throughout the tournament at Oakmont, only just making the halfway cut on Friday.
And, after Saturday’s round, he said making himself less available to some sections of the media is partly due to a leaked story surrounding his driver before last month’s US PGA Championship.
It emerged the United States Golf Association (USGA) instructed McIlroy to change the club just two days before the event after an equipment inspection deemed it ‘non-conforming’.
There was no suggestion that McIlroy had done anything wrong with regards to his driver and he is not contractually obliged to speak to the media at events.
“It’s just frustration with you guys [some sections of the media],” the Northern Irishman said in his first post-round interview at a major since winning the Masters at Augusta in April.
“I have been totally available for the past number of years,” McIlroy added. “That [driver issue] was a part of it but at Augusta I skipped you guys on Thursday. It’s not out of the ordinary as I’ve done it before, but I am doing it a little more often. I feel like I’ve earned the right to do whatever I want to do.”
The Oakmont course has proved to be a challenge for the entire field and, although McIlroy has been happy with some aspects of his game, retaining focus has been an issue at times.
“The name of the game this week is staying patient and I’ve tried to do a good job of it out there, but it’s just one of those golf courses where you can lose patience pretty quickly,” he said.
“I have driven the ball as good for a long time, so that’s a positive from this week. I was hoping to play better, but didn’t.”
A course where the tiniest mistakes get penalised a lot’
McIlroy said he has felt “a little bit flat on the golf course” since his Masters triumph in April, which saw him become the sixth player to complete a career Grand Slam of winning all four majors.
Naturally, he is keen to achieve further success, but knew from his slow start to Friday’s second round that any chance of collecting a second major of the year this week was gone. Throwing a club in anger on the 12th fairway and smashing a tee box marker with his club on the 17th tee showed the frustrations he was feeling with his game.
But with the shackles off a little, he produced a good finish to squeeze into the weekend action, but was unable to carry that into Saturday as he finished four over for the day.
McIlroy acknowledged anything short of a top performance would be punished on the course.
“It’s much easier when you’re on the cut line when you don’t really care if you’re here for the weekend or not,” he added of Friday’s effort.
“I was thinking, ‘do I want another two days here or not?’, but it makes it easier to play when you’re in that mindset.
“I’ve certainly experienced times when I haven’t played the way I wanted to. I actually feel like I’ve played OK this week, but it’s just the sort of golf course where the tiniest mistakes get penalised a lot and that’s how it’s felt.
“You’ve got to be on every single shot and if you miss a fairway, you’re going to be scrambling for par. If you miss your landing spot by a couple of yards, these greens repel the ball into rough and it just makes things very tricky, so you’ve got to be on your game.”
Entertainment
Djokovic learns fate in new home as Sabalenka addresses behaviour
Express Sport brings you the latest tennis news from the Paris Masters.
We’re reaching the business end of the Paris Masters, as eight players become four in the French capital. Jannik Sinner is the overwhelming favourite to lift the trophy after Carlos Alcaraz was dumped out by Cameron Norrie in the Spaniard’s opening match. Norrie was then beaten by Valentin Vacherot, whose amazing 10-match winning streak at Masters 1000 level came to an end when he lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Canadian star Auger-Aliassime will face Alexander Bublik in the semis. Bublik defeated Alex de Minaur, who is among those to have already qualified for the year-end ATP Finals. Sinner is through to his first Paris Masters semi-final after beating Ben Shelton. He’ll face defending champion Alexander Zverev, who survived a tough match against Daniil Medvedev.
Novak Djokovic is not involved in the Paris Masters, having decided to skip the event for the second year in a row, but he has learned his fate in the draw of next week’s ATP 250 in Athens. And over in Riyadh, the WTA Finals are about to get underway.
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