McIlroy has not won a major since 2014, he came as close as he has at last week’s U.S. Open – and that can fire him toward The Open glory at Royal Troon in July.
Stay with us here.
But what if Rory McIlroy’s U.S. Open nightmare is the catalyst for a major run? Remember, his 2011 Masters meltdown was the catalyst for his breakthrough on the biggest stage aged 22.
It has not yet been a week, but there has been much hand-wringing around McIlroy’s dramatic conclusion at Pinehurst.
The general feeling has been how on earth does he get over it? And whether it’s possible for him to put it behind him and win that fifth major.
Two missed putts from inside three feet in his final three holes handed Bryson DeChambeau the chance to become at two-time major champion.
The popular take appears to have been; there’s no way he can possibly recover.
This ignores two huge factors. 1) To quote Shane Lowry ‘You’re Rory ‘f****** McIlroy. 2) We’ve been here before.
The first point is from McIlroy’s great friend Lowry’s rallying call ahead of the Ryder Cup singles in 2021 – and it’s worth bearing in mind.
McIlroy is a four-time major champion, a multiple winner on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, three-time FedEx Cup winner, five-time Race to Dubai winner and the current world no.3.
All the great players have collapsed, in many sports, on many occasions and almost all of them have referenced the fact that in sport you lose more than you win – and the sooner you come to terms with that the better.
McIlroy – with 40 worldwide victories – wins more than most, and as is the case with most champions, losing is hard to take.
Even more so when it happens in the way that saw a second U.S. Open snatched away from him.
It means we head to Royal Troon with the decade-long wait for a major having one last chance to be over before it spills into an 11th year and second decade.
However, champions separate themselves from the rest, putting such heartbreak behind them. And McIlroy has already begun moving on.
Walking away from his press commitments was not a great look, but those images from the scorer’s hut did more than enough to tell everyone how he was feeling.
A statement followed, congratulating DeChambeau on his victory, withdrawing from this week’s Travelers Championship and confirming a break from the game for a few weeks.
He will return in Scotland for the Scottish Open on July 11 – where he is the defending champion.
There is a fair argument that McIlroy has not ‘thrown away’ one of golf biggest prizes for perhaps 13 years.
The ten-year wait for a major has largely been bookmarked by great finishes or a failure to really get going in the final round.
Since his second PGA Championship in 2014, McIlroy has four runners-up finishes in the biggest tournaments the sport has to offer. That extends to 11 top five finishes.
In fact in his last 11 major championships, the Northern Irishman has missed the cut just once and has finished inside the top ten on eight occasions, with three runners-up finishes.
Of those runners-up finishes, last Sunday stands out as he had the tournament in the palm of his hand.
Last year at Los Angeles Country Club he never got going in the U.S. Open final round, while in 2021 at Torrey Pines he was in the hunt, but trailed the leaders as he looked to force his way to the top of the leaderboard and paid the price.
At The Open in 2022, he led by two with eight to play. While he went birdie-less, Cam Smith carded six birdies on the back nine to win the tournament in style.
At the 2022 Masters, McIlroy started the final round ten shots adrift of Scottie Scheffler, shot a barely believable 64 and finished a superb second, three shots behind Scheffler.
Rewind to 2011, and a fresh-faced, curly-haired McIlroy showed everyone what he was about. An opening round 65 had him tied for the lead before a second round 69 gave him a two-shot advantage at the halfway stage.
By the end of the third round, McIlroy had built a four-shot lead going into the final round.
On that final day eight different players led the tournament before Charl Schwartzel claimed the Green Jacket.
Standing on the tenth tee McIlroy led by one before a triple bogey dropped him two shots adrift of Schwartzel. A bogey on 11 and a double bogey on 12 left him five behind the champion and the major would have to wait.
But not for long. Fired up by his Masters moment passing him by, McIlroy put on a record-breaking clinic at Congressional in Maryland.
Rounds of 65 and 66 gave him a six-shot half way lead, that become eight by the end of the weekend as McIlroy got his hands on the U.S. Open trophy and the silver medal.
He didn’t stop there. Three more majors followed over the next three years, although it was boom or bust for him – he was far less consistent than his record over the last ten years has been.
The wins were there though, surely the dam had burst and McIlroy was going to win a stack more, was going to rival Tiger Woods tally, and maybe challenge Jack Nicklaus.
Except sport doesn’t work like that. McIlroy became a global superstar, and in recent years the face of the PGA Tour as they battled the emergence of LIV Golf.
But the majors have dried up.
DeChambeau still had a remarkable up and down to make to capture his title – and avoid a play-off with McIlroy. But the near miss, the capitulation, call it what you like might have been exactly what McIlroy needed.
No one wants to throw away the title, but what if being in the heat of battle when it really mattered reminded Rory what it takes – far more than any final round 64 to secure another Wikipedia-satisfying top five finish.
What if instead of ‘how can he ever recover?’, McIlroy goes on another tear.
What if it’s the start of another run? He is Rory f****** McIlroy after all.
News Summary:
- US Open nightmare is exactly what Rory McIlroy needs to end ten-year major wait – just as Masters meltdown was in 2011
- Check all news and articles from the latest Football updates.