Rory McIlroy declined to speak to the media, got into his car and sped out of the Pinehurst parking lot immediately after Bryson DeChambeau won the 2024 US Open, in what will be the hardest loss of his entire career.
McIlroy was dialled in on the back nine at Pinehurst and led by two after making four birdies in five holes around the turn. Bryson DeChambeau was not taking command of the US Open like some thought he might and the door was well and truly open for McIlroy to walk right through it.
He bogeyed 15 after hitting a club too many long of the par 3, opting for a knock down 7 over a full-out 8-iron. What followed on 16 and 18 were truly harrowing.
After dropping a shot on 15, he then missed from 2ft 6in on the 16th. This was the putt that cost him the US Open. He found the green of the 540 yard par 4 in two and seemed like he was ready to get across the line – but he looked shaken after the short miss.
Rory McIlroy misses from 2ft 6in.pic.twitter.com/o2ME9ZfPaxJune 16, 2024
He managed to rally himself to make a brilliant par save on 17, where he got it down in two from the greenside bunker to hopefully get the wind back in sails.
That all came before he surprisingly opted for driver on the short 18th hole, where he had been hitting 3-wood previously, and pulled it left into the native area. That forced him to need an up-and-down from just short of the green and he did the first part well, chipping to 4ft – before really throwing away the US Open.
😱 😱 😱 😱RORY MISSES ON 18.Bryson can win the U.S. Open with a par on 18. pic.twitter.com/lSk0ZzzZK2June 16, 2024
Perhaps the hole looked a lot smaller after his short miss on 16. Perhaps he was still shaking after what happened on 16 – which was his first miss from inside 3ft in his last 497 attempts.
After an agonising ending, McIlroy watched on from the scorer’s tent, hoping for a DeChambeau bogey but Bryson’s clutch bunker shot from 55 yards was one of the greatest Major shots of recent time. It left McIlroy in 2nd-place and licking his wounds.
He’s a student of the game and a historian who knows that it’s the Majors that really do count, and this one will hurt more than any of his previous near-misses. He was beaten by Wyndham Clark last year. Cam Smith flew past him at St Andrews in 2022. But this one was his,…
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