How McIlroy And Fleetwood Came Up Short On The Greens At 151st Open

The putt Rory McIlroy narrowly missed for birdie on the 72nd green summed up his week. It was a performance of so near, yet so far for the Northern Irishman – A familiar theme in recent Majors. Failing to make birdie on the last meant that he missed out by a shot on finishing as joint runner-up. Even if it hadn’t been for Brian Harman’s runaway victory, Rory would have come up just shy in his quest to end his ever-lengthening Major drought.

With Tommy Fleetwood’s inexplicable tee shot on the 17th leading to a triple bogey, the local lad finished three back of those sharing second spot. Harman’s heroics aside, the Hoylake faithful would have been left disappointed even if the left-hander hadn’t shown up. Both of the fans’ favourites, Rory and Tommy, would have fallen short no matter what the diminutive eventual winner had produced on Sunday.

In the end, the Georgia native produced a supremely solid round that gave the chasing pack only the slightest glimmer of hope, that was when he was two-over for the day through five holes. But he cancelled those drops out immediately with two birdies straight and never looked properly threatened from that point on.

On a soaking day in the northwest, the Hoylake fans endured a damp squib of a finale. Taking nothing away from Harman’s tremendous play and fully deserved victory, there wasn’t a huge amount for the spectators to get excited about as the leaders came down the stretch. That’s why some of the more idiotic members of the gallery resorted to booing and heckling the affable American in a desperate attempt to make him falter and create some sort of a competition.