Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy were involved in numerous controversies throughout the 2025 PGA Tour season.

Morikawa and McIlroy are two of the biggest stars on the PGA Tour and, indeed, the professional game as a whole.

As such, the American and the Northern Irishman have more responsibility than most to set good examples.

However, Morikawa and McIlroy received a great deal of criticism for their disappointing behavior throughout the 2025 season.

Both players have a job that the vast majority of people would give anything to have.

However, at times it seemed like playing golf professionally was a chore for the American and the Northern Irishman.

And now the PGA Tour have been told that they must make a big change in response to something that both players did on numerous occasions in 2025.

Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy caused controversy on the PGA Tour

McIlroy and Morikawa bore the brunt of some huge criticism last year, after they both ducked out of their respective media duties after certain tournaments.

Morikawa set the trend back in March when he was pipped to the Arnold Palmer Invitational title by Russell Henley.

Rather than face up to reporters, the two-time major champion decided to hit the road.

However, what made Morikawa avoiding speaking to the press even worse was the fact that he doubled down on his decision the following week by suggesting that he doesn’t owe anyone anything.

The just two months later, McIlroy did exactly the same thing, embarking on six consecutive major championship rounds without speaking to reporters.

The 2025 Masters champion echoed Morikawa’s comments by claiming that he has earned the right to do what he wants.

McIlroy was angry that his name was leaked after his driver was deemed to be non-conforming ahead of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, when other stars names were not.

That was simply no excuse, though. The 36-year-old owes it to his fans, and indeed his sponsors, to speak after each and every round he plays.

Tommy Fleetwood showed Morikawa and McIlroy up after speaking to the media every single time he came up just short and failed to win on the PGA Tour.

McIlroy and Morikawa received huge criticism for skipping media duties from golf analysts and fans alike.

PGA Tour told what they must ‘nip in the bud’

Former touring pro Nick Dougherty made an appearance on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast this week.

Dougherty was asked what he made of Collin Morikawa’s behavior last year, when he refused to speak to the media after some poor finishes to tournaments.

“Yeah, I think sometimes the management have something to answer for with some of these things.

“He gets you the money. Fantastic.

Do you think Rory McIlroy will win two or more majors before he retires?

“It’s a whole different kettle of fish nowadays. He’s done way more than me. He’s won 29 times in America.‘Of the all-time greats, I’d put him fifth. Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack [Nicklaus] and Tiger [Woods]. Rory is right there. No discredit to Gene Sarazen, but that was a completely different era. I’ve hardly seen any footage of him, but achieving the grand slam puts you in a different category.

“He obviously got off to a flyer with those first four majors. I remember I said then he might be really disappointed to only win ten majors or he will be ecstatic to win five.‘Tiger [Woods] and [Ben] Crenshaw both had big gaps [also 11 years] but only won one more. Rory is 35, he’s as fit as a fiddle, and you’ve got to believe he’s really shaken the monkey off his back.

“I would’ve thought it’ll set him free and he might be the unique one to go on and win [multiple] more majors.“

Nick Faldo’s comments after Rory McIlroy won the Masters

I think he will win at least 1 more. Next year is a big one, feels like he’s at his peak so needs to capitalise.

antony.martin

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I’m not so sure, you know. I reckon Faldo could be right, winning more will be a struggle, but he should win 1 or 2 more due to pure talent alone.

“But a good manager … so I have one now, but I had one back in the day when I was I was playing. He was great, and he was a great manager because he told me when I was being an idiot.

“I was a little bit annoyed at him at the time, but it was being a good manager, because he told me what I needed to hear in that a good manager doesn’t just tell you all the good news. He tells you the bad stuff, too, that you sometimes need to learn from.

“And Colin doubling down on his whole sort of like, ‘Why do I need to speak to the media? I don’t have to. I don’t have to speak to media’.

“It’s like, yeah, you do. Yeah, you do.

“It’s what all the guys who were great, arguably even better than you’ve ever been, in terms of your Palmers, your Players, your Nicklaus’s, Like, all these guys who paved the way for this generation, they put the time in, and why does that matter?

“Because that creates the interest with the fans, and it’s the fans that pay the wages. Because if the fans aren’t interested in watching these guys play golf, all of a sudden, there aren’t $20 million prize funds, because sponsors don’t want to put money into things that fans don’t watch.

“Like, mentally, sometimes we’re not equipped. But that mentality of, like, ‘I’ll speak to you when I play well, but if it hasn’t gone well, I’m gonna dodge’.

“I think we need to nip that in the bud, because actually, that’s when we do want to hear from them.

“Colin’s a great player, you know, and when he struggled, people want to hear his take on things.

“One of the reasons Tommy Fleetwood is so desired by fans around the world is because he is very comfortable with being vulnerable.

“Yes, when he wins, we celebrate with him, but when he lost, he talked to the media, and with it, the world swooned for Tommy Fleetwood.

“So I think he (Morikawa) was misguided in terms of how he approached it. I think he probably learned from it. I think he’s a pretty good guy, all in all, Morikawa, and I just think being bullish was probably not great guidance right then.“