Rory McIlroy continued his silence and opted not to engage with the press for a third consecutive day as his PGA Championship struggles continue. After three rounds McIlroy is two-over, leaving him a massive 13 shots behind leader Scottie Scheffler going into the final day and there has been controversy about his driver to deal with too.

A routine check found McIlroy's TaylorMade Qi10 driver to be non-conforming, a situation that often comes from the standard wear-and-tear of using a club. The organisers, without specifically confirming the issue with McIlroy's driver, were keen to emphasise there was no suggestion of any "intent" behind the ruling violation as they explained the testing process. Since the change, McIlroy's driving woes have been evident at Quail Hollow, significantly hindering his chances of securing consecutive major titles.

The Northern Irishman only narrowly made it to the weekend's play at +1, precisely on the cut line and reminiscent of his maiden PGA Tour victory at Quail Hollow in 2010, where he also started nine shots back on one-over par. Nevertheless, any notion of a repeat performance quickly dissipated following his third-round score of one-over par, placing him at +2 overall and leaving him miles adrift of Scheffler.

Following his round, McIlroy promptly signed his 72-stroke scorecard and left the course, avoiding the array of media that awaited him, which is consistent with his behaviour at the event since day one. This silence has shrouded the specifics of his driver change in mystery since it came to light after his pre-tournament press briefing on Wednesday.

Likewise, details about his suboptimal performance remain undisclosed. Speaking on Wednesday before the PGA Championship got underway, the Masters champion had said: "Look, I have achieved everything that I've wanted - I've done everything I've wanted to do in the game.

"I dreamed as a child of becoming the best player in the world and winning all the majors. I've done that. Everything beyond this, for however long I decide to play the game competitively, is a bonus."

When questioned if, after clinching the Masters he entered the next major with any fresh goal motivating him, he clarified: "Not necessarily. I think everyone saw how hard having a north star is and being able to get over the line.

"As I said at the start of this press conference, if I can just try to get the best out of myself each and every week, I know what my abilities are; I know the golf that I can play. And if I keep turning up and just trying to do that each and every week, especially in these four big ones a year, I know that I'll have my chances.

"I've always said I'm never going to put a number on it. I've talked about trying to become the best European ever or the best international player ever or whatever that is. But again, that's not - the numbers tell one story, but it's not - mightn't be the full story.

"I don't want to - I feel like I sort of burdened myself with the Career Grand Slam stuff, and I want to enjoy this. I want to enjoy what I've achieved, and I want to enjoy the last decade or whatever of my career, and I don't want to burden myself by numbers or statistics. I just want to go and try to play the best golf I can."

This story first appeared on the Mirror US