A body language guru claims that Rory McIlroy was “really angry” and felt “betrayed” when news broke that his equipment didn’t pass the legality test at the PGA Championship.
At Quail Hollow last month, fresh from his Masters triumph, McIlroy’s anticipated victory celebration turned sour due to his poor performance, avoiding media post-rounds, and his driver flunking a USGA compliance check.
During a press event on Wednesday before the Canadian Open, the golfer from Northern Ireland opened up about being “p—– off” over two journalists spilling the beans on his driver inspection, which Scottie Scheffler also didn’t clear. The testing was supposed to be kept quiet, making him feel like he’d been thrown to the wolves.
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McIlroy said: “I knew that Scottie’s driver had failed on Monday, but my name was the one that was leaked.
“I didn’t want to get up there and say something 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.
“With Scottie’s stuff, that’s not my information to share. I knew that that had happened, but that’s not on me to share that, and 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.”
Body language expert Darren Stanton analyzed McIlroy’s behavior during the press conference and found that McIlroy’s anger seemed authentic.
Stanton told OLBG: “Rory McIlroy is usually calm, sedate and placid, so it’s not very often that we see him angry in this way. The fact that he did swear also says a lot. Internally, he feels betrayed by the fact someone has leaked this confidential information to the press.
“The main thing we look for is the microexpression and there’s a deflating flash of an emotion on McIlroy’s face. With McIlroy, he’s been consistent in what he’s saying and the emotion is revealing.
“A lot of people would say it didn’t bother me but conversely, when we see behavior that contradicts that, that’s where we can then say that this person has been deceptive or they’re showing their real emotion.
“It’s authentic and McIlroy is telling us that he’s disappointed, fed up and really angry with the fact that this information has been leaked. When people have this crinkling above their nose, that demonstrates anger.
“The eyes also squint and there are quick flashes of him piercing his lips, it’s very fast. The facial expressions give away what he’s expressing. He was being honest, truthful and he’s prepared to stand up for himself.”
At Quail Hollow, PGA of America’s chief championships officer Kerry Haigh stated that non-conforming drivers are “not an unusual occurrence” and the results are kept confidential to “protect players”, adding: “To publicly identify players whose club did not conform can lead to that player being questioned unnecessarily.”
