PGA Tour Pro Left in the Crossfire as Rory McIlroy’s Media Actions Force Brandel Chamblee to Reveal True Colors

Just 30 days into his Grand Slam win at the ANGC, Rory McIlroy found himself falling from cloud-9 and right into a pit. And it all started with the ‘Non-Conforming’ call made by the USGA for his driver before round 1 of the PGA Championship. Matters only got worse for the World No. 2, who did not talk to the media believing in “Our rules state that (media availability) is not (mandatory), and until that’s written into the regulations, you’re going to have guys skip from time to time, and that’s well within our rights.” But he made aptly clear why he chose that route.

While Scottie Scheffler too confirmed after his rounds that his driver was also ruled out, it was only the Northern Irishman’s name that got out. According to him, “It was supposed to stay confidential. Two members of the media were the ones who leaked it.” His frustrations and silence at Quail Hollow, though, did more damage than good to his image. But he is not alone who stands on the bad side of the press.

As it turns out, after his heartbreaking loss to Russell Henley at the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational, Collin Morikawa refused to interact with the media and immediately left Bay Hill Club, explaining at the PLAYERS later how, “I don’t owe anyone.” Fast forward to now, Brandel Chamblee has jumped into the conversation.

Chamblee tweeted yesterday, “The amount of time a player/athlete is willing to give those who cover them, with few exceptions, has from time immemorial been proportional to the amount of goodwill extended to them by the media. If a player/athlete possesses any tolerable amount of common sense and has paid any attention to the way past greats have been followed around by scribes, they would see the reciprocal nature of competing in and the covering of sport.

“Having said that, I think the recent trend of players choosing to not talk to the media is somewhat understandable (aside from Morikawa’s “I don’t owe you anything” comment) given the fact that social-media has created a “first beats best” mentality amongst a few that give the rest a bad name. A long way from when Herbert Warren Wind would take weeks to craft a game story about a major, taking great care to be accurate and fair.”

Seemingly, Chamblee believes that Rory McIlroy and every other golfer should understand how media works. Being unavailable to comment on the situation will only put them under the spotlight instead of driving the attention away from them. And that did come true. Scheffler, who did take out time for the press, never saw his name make the headlines for anything negative even when he won the event despite getting his driver ruled out as well. But for McIlroy, it was a completely opposite case. Still, what took the spotlight was Chamblee’s mention of Morikawa, something that shouldn’t be categorized along with what McIlroy did. Especially when the reigning Masters champion did explain his stance.

When Rory came to the fore, he justified how he did not want to say anything “that I regretted, either, because there’s a lot of people that — 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. I just didn’t want to get up there and say something that I regretted at the time.”

Well, there might be some truth to what Brandel Chamblee had to say about handling media relations. For one, Bryson DeChambeau seems to be killing it.

Brandel Chamblee’s advice for Rory McIlroy is working wonders for his rival

Emotions were high and celebrations were loud as Rory McIlroy had finally won the Green Jacket. His 2025 Masters win made him the 6th Grand Slam champion, a feat he had been chasing for nearly 11 years. While things were joyous in the Irishman’s corner, Bryson DeChambeau‘s camp wasn’t as delighted with the situation. Especially because he had just blundered the excellent opportunity of winning at ANGC.

Upset with the events of the day, DeChambeau was questioned for claiming that McIlroy didn’t speak to him through the final round. Even though there was evidence of his accusations being debunked, he didn’t step back from what he said, getting him a lot of heat as the anti-LIV brigade bombarded social media, calling him names that are synonymous with a ‘crybaby.’ Fast-forward to the 2025 PGA Championship loss, and the Crushers GC captain suffered another big loss at Quail Hollow. This time to Scottie Scheffler. However, DeChambeau learned from his mistakes.

He was far more tactical during his media appearance, also seen attending to a young fan after his loss, which helped him gain a lot of positive reactions. He was also the first golfer on the course to congratulate Scottie for his win.

Perhaps Rory McIlroy can consult with Bryson DeChambeau’s team on how to handle such tense situations better. It would certainly help him develop a far more positive image, even if he is frustrated behind the cameras and outside of social media.