Rory McIlroy axes media duties after a frustrating outing at the 2023 British Open Championship

Rory McIlroy, in search of his fifth major victory at the ongoing Open Championship 2023, refused to interact with the media following the end of the third round at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake on Saturday.

McIlroy would be disappointed after being unable to capitalize on his stellar start on Saturday. He started the round with three alternate birdies but then had a series of pars and a bogey. He eventually finished with a score of 69 which took him 3-under in the tournament.

Rory McIlroy also skipped the press conference before the Open Championship 2023. And on Saturday, he refused to show up for interviews after completing his round and instead walked straight to practice green near the Clubhouse at Hoylake.

Rory McIlroy at The Open Championship 2023 (via Getty Images)

McIlroy was last victorious in a major in 2014 when he won the PGA Championship after defeating Phil Mickelson by a margin of one stroke. Despite several PGA tour titles since then, including the recent Genesis Scottish Open, a major win has eluded him for nine long years.

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Where does Rory McIlroy sit on the Open Championship leaderboard?

Rory McIlroy sits at T11 at the Open Championship, nine strokes behind the leader Brian Harman.

McIlroy started his Open Championship campaign on Thursday with a score of 71 that he achieved with the help of three birdies. He followed that up with a second-round score of 70, landing him in T11 on the leaderboard.

However, as mentioned earlier, the Northern Irish golfer could not capitalize on his solid start on Saturday, resulting in him staying put in T11 at the end of the third round.

The leaderboard of the Open Championship makes for interesting viewing, with multiple spots, barring the top three, being tied. Brian Harman is way out in the lead, five strokes ahead of second-placed Cameron Young.

Here is the leaderboard of the 151st Open (top 25 players):

• 1 - Brian Harman
• 2 - Cameron Young
• 3 - Jon Rahm
• T4 - Viktor Hovland
• T4 - Antoine Rozner
• T4 - Jason Day
• T4 - Sepp Straka
• T4 - Tommy Fleetwood
• T9 - Alex Fitzpatrick
• T9 - Shubhankar Sharma
• T11 - Thomas Detry
• T11 - Tom Kim
• T11 - Nicolai Hojgaard
• T11 - Matthew Jordan
• T11 - Rory McIlroy
• T11 - Emiliano Grillo
• T17 - Matt Fitzpatrick
• T17 - Sungjae Im
• T17 - Romain Langasque
• T17 - Hideki Matsuyama
• T17 - Max Homa
• T17 - Jordan Spieth
• T17 - Min Woo Lee
• T24 - Rickie Fowler
• T24 - Patrick Cantlay
• T24 - Xander Schauffele
• T24 - Cameron Smith
• T24 - Patrick Reed
• T24 - Tyrrell Hatton
• T24 - Corey Conners
• T24 - Byeong Hun An
• T24 - Alexander Bjork
• T24 - Richard Bland
• T24 - Wyndham Clark
• T24 - Henrik Stenson
• T24 - Stewart Cink
• T24 - Michael Stewart
• T24 - Guido Migliozzi

The tee times for Sunday's play will be updated soon.