Jon Rahm was forced to watch the U.S. Open from his couch, so his main issue with Rory McIlroy's missed 4-footer on the 18th hole at Pinehurst No. 2 — opening the door for Bryson DeChambeau — lied with the TV coverage.

“One of the things that absolutely burned me, and I think it was [NBC's] Smylie [Kaufman] who said it, he severely underplayed how difficult Rory's putt on 18 was,” Rahm said ahead of LIV Golf's event in Nashville.

McIlroy seemed on track to cap off a brilliant day of putting on Pinehurst's turtleback greens and secure his first major championship in 10 years. He led by two strokes with five holes to go, then bogeyed the par-3 15th, missed his first 3-footer of the year to bogey the par-4 16th, then floundered the short putt on the par-4 18th.

“When he said it's a left-center putt, if you hit that putt left-center and miss the hole, you're off the green because of how much slope there is,” continued Rahm, the 2021 U.S. Open champion. “You could see Rory aiming at least a cup left from 3 feet. They severely underplayed how difficult that putt was. Severely.

“I think that can happen a few times where unless you've been there on the golf course and you're playing it or you've played it, it's hard to truly explain how difficult the golf course can be, and a lot of times they only have those five seconds to say something quickly, so I also don't blame them.”

McIroy did not address the media after his round. On Monday, the 26-time PGA Tour winner released a statement congratulating DeChambeau, called Sunday the “toughest” day of his career, and promised a “resilient” return after taking a three-week break from golf.

“Rory is one of the best to ever play,” DeChambeau said in his post-U.S. Open press conference. “Being able to fight against a great like that is pretty special. For him to miss that putt, I'd never wish it on anybody. It just happened to play out that way.”

Rahm, meanwhile, will be back in action with his Legion XIII team at The Grove in Nashville.

“I’m feeling good,” said the 2023 Masters champion. “The main reason for the withdrawal from the two events was the infection I had and just to be precautionary towards not making it worse and seeing what steps I can take to prevent that from happening in the future.

“The wound is still there. I’m not going to show any graphic pictures, but it’s still there. It’s manageable now. I’m not going to really make it worse. A lot of things to follow up from what happened to make sure it heals properly and it doesn’t happen again.”

Rahm's has struggled in the majors in 2024 — he was T45 at the Masters and missed the cut at the PGA Championship — but has played well on LIV. He's finished top-10 in all seven events, while Legion XIII has two victories.

“I feel ready to walk and hit it,” Rahm said. “I haven’t been able to do much. It doesn’t take much for me to feel ready to compete. Looking forward to it. Just happy that I’m here.”