From the off, there was a sense that Rory McIlroy’s race had already run. Old Glory flew in the breeze by the clubhouse – the snap hooks attaching the Stars and Stripes to the flagpole no longer tested to their limits compared to the previous day’s strong winds – and the Northern Irishman, knowing the last act of desperation, ditched his pre-championship logic in this 126th US Open in reaching for the driver on the opening tee.
Such an aggressive play signalled some intent from McIlroy, given that he was teeing off some 2½ hours before the final pairing of 54-hole leader Wyndham Clark and Grand Slam-chasing Scottie Scheffler would be announced. McIlroy knew, and we knew, that his quest for another US Open was effectively a lost cause.
But you never know with McIlroy, do you?
Which probably explained why his pairing with Akshay Bhatia attracted by far the most sizeable galleries of any at that juncture of the day.
RM Block
And, at least for a short while, that decision to hit driver off the first looked like a good move by McIlroy, who had the distance to find the first green some 392 yards away. Only that the trajectory of the shot was slightly too much to the right and, although it finished pin high, he was left with a bunker to negotiate to a flag perched on a ledge that cried out, “don’t be long.”
Long he was, however, and McIlroy’s pitch ran by the hole and down the run-off to settle in the gathering area at the end of the slope. He salvaged par. But the momentum he sought to make some kind of last day charge didn’t come.
A bogey on the Par 3 second. Then, after hitting his approach shot to the third, which found the green before running into a bunker – another bogey – McIlroy muttered to himself, “ah, just go home Rory!”
Still, the McIlroy factor is such that the crowds stuck with him. In the grandstand at the back of the seventh green, a Par 3, they had queued to get seats in advance of McIlroy and Bhatia. Their rewards were a couple of pars, McIlroy splashing out of the bunker – again – and holing the four-footer for par, while the painfully slow Bhatia used his aim-point and assessed every blade of grass to two-putt for par.
The crowd’s reaction to McIlroy’s presence on the green was interesting. Where they had kept their mobile phones hidden for the pairings who had passed through ahead of him, when McIlroy came around the phones were raised and photos taken. His appeal – even on a day when his jet was likely ready and waiting at the nearby East Hampton airfield – was clear and obvious.
This US Open is likely to be McIlroy’s last appearance Stateside until August, with the Scottish Open and The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale his next scheduled events. He is not expected to play in the US again until the St Jude Classic in Memphis in mid-August.
So it was that the crowds followed him, witnessing another bogey on the ninth (which meant he had covered his last 18 holes in nine-over having come home in 40 in Saturday’s third round and out in 39 for Sunday’s final round), until many then left at the turn to take-up with the Clark/Scheffler pairing.
What they missed were back-to-back birdies from McIlroy on the 10th and 11th to finally get some forward momentum, but it came far too late for him to cause any concern for those with genuine eyes on the US Open trophy.
McIlroy’s journey around the back nine was a vast improvement on Friday and Saturday, coming home in 34 – three birdies, two bogeys – for a final round 73, finishing with a total of six-over 286, where he had Dustin Johnson for company.
It marked the end of a disappointing championship but especially that back nine run of five bogeys on Saturday which ruined his chances. For a player who had finished in the top-10 in six of his previous US Opens, it marked his worse finish since missing the cut in 2018.
“I think looking back on the entire week, I’ll obviously rue the back nine (on Saturday),” said McIlroy after finishing up on Sunday. “I got myself to two-under par for the tournament after nine, and then the wheels came off and played a really bad back nine. I sort of shot myself out of the tournament then. Obviously I was really disappointed coming away from the course (on Saturday) night.
“You try to come out here today positive, and you try to muster up the energy to put a good one in there, but (after) a couple of bogeys on the front nine, I was just trying to race my way to the 18th green.”
Next year’s US Open at his favoured Pebble Beach will offer a chance to get his mojo back.
