{"id":189037,"date":"2025-06-16T13:06:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T13:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/189037\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T13:06:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T13:06:14","slug":"paige-spiranac-leaps-to-rory-mcilroys-defense-amid-criticism-over-us-open-media-snub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/189037\/","title":{"rendered":"Paige Spiranac leaps to Rory McIlroy&#8217;s defense amid criticism over US Open media snub"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-1532\/eric-blum.html\" class=\"author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ERIC BLUM<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  07:39 EDT, 16 June 2025   |  Updated:  07:44 EDT, 16 June 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Social-media influencer Paige Spiranac has leapt to the defense of <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rory_mcilroy\/index.html\" id=\"mol-25b31770-4a6d-11f0-9338-3f648f1f9ff6\" rel=\"noopener\">Rory McIlroy<\/a> amid criticism he skipped media sessions during the US Open this weekend at Oakmont.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">McIlroy skipped interviews after his rounds on Thursday and Friday and when he faced reporters on Saturday, said he was frustrated by them during a tense five-minute back-and-forth. He added that he felt he can do &#8216;whatever I want&#8217; when it comes to media commitments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">McIlroy finished the tournament in a tie for 19th place at 7-over-par with an impressive -3 under final round.\u00a0The Northern Irishman is one of the most popular golfers in the world and his every move is under a magnifying glass &#8211; especially since winning <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/masters_tournament\/index.html\" id=\"mol-8e32dd10-4aa6-11f0-b83f-5fc7bd208f0c\" rel=\"noopener\">the Masters<\/a> earlier this year to complete the Grand Slam.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Spiranac has came to his defense, making sure those in the golf world are not too quick to attack one another.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Might be an unpopular opinion here but he doesn\u2019t have to talk to the media if he doesn\u2019t want to. It\u2019s not required,&#8217; Spiranac said on social media. &#8216;And why would he when everyone is always analyzing and criticizing his every move.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;There is clearly something more going on none of us are privy to, so maybe let\u2019s not all pile on.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-450a22ff39bbb806\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/99408247-14815625-image-a-20_1750049061437.jpg\" height=\"793\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Social-media influencer Paige Spiranac has leapt to the defense of Rory McIlroy amid criticism\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Social-media influencer Paige Spiranac has leapt to the defense of Rory McIlroy amid criticism<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-41ef2dfda59fab5c\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/99408245-14815625-image-a-19_1750049058446.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"McIlroy declined to speak with the media after the third and final rounds of the US Open\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">McIlroy declined to speak with the media after the third and final rounds of the US Open<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-587324004db0ed7f\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/99416287-14815625-image-m-2_1750073837792.jpg\" height=\"457\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Spiranac thinks 'there is clearly something more going on' behind McIlroy's mood\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Spiranac thinks &#8216;there is clearly something more going on&#8217; behind McIlroy&#8217;s mood\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">McIlroy on Saturday was also quick to point out previously he skipped out on the first round of media availability after the first round of The Masters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The 36-year-old also did not speak with the media after every round of last month&#8217;s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, where he finished in a tie for 47th place.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Earlier this month, McIlroy\u00a0hit out at the leaks surrounding his driver debacle at the <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/pga_championship\/index.html\" id=\"mol-a75dcfc0-4169-11f0-87c4-ff7370dc6391\" style=\"font-weight: bold;\" rel=\"noopener\">PGA Championship<\/a> last month, admitting he was &#8216;p***** off&#8217; about <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" class=\"class\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/golf\/article-14780377\/Rory-McIlroy-breaks-cover-silence-PGA-Championship-humbling-leak.html\" rel=\"noopener\">being publicly singled out for failing an equipment check.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I was a little p***** off because I knew that Scottie&#8217;s (Scheffler) driver had failed on Monday, but my name was the one that was leaked. It was supposed to stay confidential,&#8217; he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Two members of the media were the ones that leaked it. Again, I didn&#8217;t want to get up there and say something that I regretted, either, because there&#8217;s a lot of people that I&#8217;m trying to protect.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Scottie &#8211; I don&#8217;t want to mention his name. I&#8217;m also trying to protect TaylorMade. I&#8217;m trying to protect the USGA, PGA of America, myself. I just didn&#8217;t want to get up there and say something that I regretted at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;With Scottie&#8217;s stuff, that&#8217;s not my information to share. I knew that that had happened, but that&#8217;s not on me to share that, and I felt that process is supposed to be kept confidential, and it wasn&#8217;t for whatever reason. That&#8217;s why I was pretty annoyed at that.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Paige Spiranac leaps to Rory McIlroy&#8217;s defense amid criticism over US Open media snub<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By ERIC BLUM Published: 07:39 EDT, 16 June 2025 | Updated: 07:44 EDT, 16 June 2025 Social-media influencer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[92,2826,53048,4342,16021,4287,93,79,16,15,18056],"class_list":{"0":"post-189037","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-paige-spiranac","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-pga-championship","13":"tag-rory-mcilroy","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-us-open-tennis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114693196046888334","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}