Athletes’ media obligations are under increasing scrutiny, especially in golf, where Shane Lowry became the latest PGA Tour player to skip post-round interviews after a late collapse at the Truist Championship.
Lowry, who previously advocated for a “cooling-off period” before facing the press, declined to speak after bogeying two of his final three holes in a narrow loss to Sepp Straka.
Lowry’s decision follows a growing pattern in professional golf. Rory McIlroy skipped interviews after the 2024 U.S. Open, and Collin Morikawa did the same at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Even at this year’s Masters, McIlroy again bypassed media availability.
A number of players have made it clear they don’t believe they owe media post-round access.
The question of making media availability mandatory is complex and varies across sports. For instance, in the NBA and NFL, athletes are typically required to attend media sessions, with fines imposed for noncompliance.
However, athletes can still choose to show up and give no comment, as Marshawn Lynch and Draymond Green have famously done. The penalties for skipping media availability are typically financial, not disciplinary, allowing athletes to opt out if they’re willing to pay the fine. In fact, during the current NBA playoffs, players like James Harden and Tyrese Haliburton have avoided media without facing fines, at least, none have been announced so far.
The PGA Tour’s current lack of mandates and/or fines there also means the governing body isn’t really pushing for universal availability, unlike what we’ve seen in some of those other leagues. But there is still definitely a generally-held tradition of players talking to the media after rounds, and more and more players seem to be opting out of that.
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.