24 days later, Rory McIlroy is finally ready to publicly discuss his historical heartache at Pinehurst No. 2, where he missed two putts inside of four feet to hand the 2024 U.S. Open to Bryson DeChambeau.
The PGA Tour is back in action at the Renaissance Club this week, where McIlroy will defend his title at the Genesis Scottish Open while honing his craft for the Open Championship — his last chance in 2024 to end his 10-year major drought. The 152nd Open at Royal Troon Golf Course begins July 18.
“I got over it pretty quickly,” McIlroy said at his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday in North Berwick, Scotland. “The few days after it were pretty tough at times, but I feel like I've done a good job of thinking about it rationally and constructively and taking what I need from it and trying to learn from it. But like for the most part it was a great day. I keep saying to people, ‘It was a great day until it wasn't.'”
McIlroy — the face of the PGA Tour — held a two-shot lead over LIV Golf star DeChambeau at Pinehurst No. 2 with four holes to play. The four-time major champion bogeyed three of his final four holes and could only watch helplessly from the clubhouse as DeChambeau hit the shot of his life from the 18th bunker, then made his three-footer to win.
McIlroy's missed tap-in on the par-4 16th represents his only gaffe inside of three feet of 2024.
“Like halfway down the first putt, it looked like it could be a birdie, and it ran a foot by where I thought it was going to finish,” McIlroy recalled. “Then I marked it, and then (Patrick Cantlay) was hitting his putt and he can take his time. Obviously, greens are tough. It's the end of a Sunday at the U.S. Open. Like, you have to be really deliberate in what you're doing.
“Probably started it straight, maybe a touch left of center, and the green grabbed it, and it caught the left edge,” McIlroy continued. “Wasn't a terrible putt, but I definitely felt a little bit of uneasiness before I hit it.”
On the 18th hole, McIlroy faced a four-footer for par, as DeChambeau — in the group behind him — sent his tee shot under a tree root in the native area. A make would've presumably locked McIlroy into, at worst, a playoff. Instead, McIlroy missed the putt hole-high. (Count Jon Rahm among the home viewers who thought NBC underplayed the difficulty of the shot.)
“I just left it on the wrong side of the hole,” McIlroy said. “I got above the hole, where the hole was cut on top of the little slope and ended up pretty dry and crusty around the hole. And the chip shot just ran out a little bit and got past the hole. I hit that putt very, very easy, and obviously just missed on the low side, and it still went a good 3 or 4 feet by.
“So I was probably playing it, I don't know, like two, 2½ cups left, whatever it was. There was a lot of swing to it, especially with how easy I was hitting it. Like I said, if it was match play and the next one didn't matter, I would have approached the putt differently.”
McIlroy jetted out of North Carolina before facing the media. The next day, he released a statement congratulating DeChambeau and announcing a brief hiatus (he was slated to compete in the Travelers Championship — the final signature event of the PGA Tour season).
McIlroy enters the week ranked no. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He has two wins on the PGA Tour this season — at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and Wells Fargo Championship. He's a +750 favorite to repeat at the Scottish and has the second-shortest odds (after Scottie Scheffler) to triumph at Royal Troon.
“I think as you achieve more in the game, you can soften the blow, if you look at everything I've been able to accomplish,” said the 26-time PGA Tour winner. “It's been a while since I've won a major. It hurt, but I felt worse after some other losses. I felt worse after Augusta in '11, and I felt worse after St Andrews [the 2022 Open Championship]. It was up there with the tough losses but not the toughest.”
McIlroy had a share of the lead for the first three rounds at the 2011 Masters before carding an 80 on Sunday. In 2022, he carried a lead into the back nine at the Old Course, but was surpassed by Cameron Smith's scorching putter.
“When I look back on that day, just like I look back on some of my toughest moments in my career, I'll learn a lot from it, and I'll hopefully put that to good use,” McIlroy said. “It's something that's been a bit of a theme throughout my career. I've been able to take those tough moments and turn them into great things not very long after that.”
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