Rory McIlroy is prone to be haunted by letting the 2024 US Open slip by his fingers at Pinehurst, based on a lot of high-profile pundits, together with his personal coach questioning how he can come again from such a devastating loss.
4 birdies within the house of 5 holes from the ninth had given McIlroy a two-shot final-round lead in pursuit of his fifth main title and a primary since 2014, just for the world No 3 to bogey three of the final 4 holes.
That spell included missed par putts of two ft six inches and three ft 9 inches on the sixteenth and 18th respectively and allowed Bryson DeChambeau to assert his second US Open title with a superb par save from a bunker on the final.
Commentating for Sky Sports activities, six-time main winner Nick Faldo mentioned: “That’s going to hang-out Rory for the remainder of his life, these two misses.”
McIlroy didn’t communicate to the media after ending second on 5 underneath par. TV footage confirmed him watching the conclusion of DeChambeau’s spherical from a recorders’ hut; when the profitable putt dropped, McIlroy swallowed, sighed deeply and instantly left the room and the course.
DeChambeau had expressed sympathy for his crushed rival. “For him to overlook that putt [on 18], I might by no means want that on anyone,” DeChambeau mentioned after a remaining spherical of 71 left him six underneath for the match, a shot forward of McIlroy and two away from Patrick Cantlay and Tony Finau.
“I’ve nothing however respect for a way he performs the sport of golf as a result of, to be sincere, when he was climbing up the leaderboard, he was two forward, I used to be like: ‘Uh-oh, uh-oh.’ However fortunately issues went my means.”
Earlier than the ultimate few holes, statistics confirmed McIlroy had not missed from inside 4 ft in the course of the match. Within the wake of these putts on 16 and 18, Brad Faxon, McIlroy’s placing coach who was working as an analyst on NBC, echoed Faldo’s fears.
“No one’s had extra stress on him over the past 10 years,” Faxon mentioned. “All people on this planet is aware of Rory hasn’t gained a significant since 2014. I believe it’s the way in which this occurred: the brief missed putts there on 16, definitely on 18. I don’t know the way you get by this factor. It’s actually robust.”
Brandel Chamblee, the US former tour skilled, added on NBC: “I can’t bear in mind a higher-quality participant developing smaller in a giant second down the stretch than that.”
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