Near misses motivate Rory McIlroy to end major misery

“I’d much rather have these close calls. It means that I’m getting closer,” McIlroy insisted.

By: irishmirror.ie

Jul 17 2024
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Near misses motivate Rory McIl

Rory McIlroy insists that he has taken positives from his US Open collapse last month as he looks to end his 10-year major drought at the 152nd Open this week.

McIlroy came so close to winning his first major since 2014 last month at the US Open, but faltered down the stretch as he bogeyed three of the last four holes to finish one shot back of Bryson de Chambeau.

The Holywood man made a swift exit after that defeat last month, but caught up with de Chambeau at Troon on Tuesday.

I said hello to him yesterday (Monday) and we talked,” DeChambeau said at Troon. “He said congrats so everything’s great there.

“He’s a fierce competitor. I know he’s going to give the fans as much as he can this week. I’m going to be doing the same. We’re going to be competing. Hopefully it will be another good battle.”

After three weeks off, McIlroy returned to action with a tie for fourth in last week’s Scottish Open and has been keen to reframe what happened at Pinehurst in a positive light.

The world number two rightly pointed out that, between 2015 and 2020, he had few genuine chances to win a major, despite racking up numerous top 10s.

That changed in the 2022 Open at St Andrews when he shared the 54-hole lead and covered his first 10 holes of round four in two under par before the birdies dried up and he was overhauled by Cameron Smith’s 64.

In last year’s US Open, McIlroy birdied the first hole during the final round at Los Angeles Country Club to briefly hold a share of the lead, but would not make another and ultimately finished one shot behind Wyndham Clark.

At Pinehurst there were plenty of birdies, including four in five holes from the ninth, before those short missed putts – from two feet and six inches on the 16th and three feet and nine inches on the last – which Sir Nick Faldo believes will “haunt” McIlroy for ever.

“I’d much rather have these close calls. It means that I’m getting closer,” McIlroy insisted.

Whether that is true or not, McIlroy can draw on the memories of his tie for fifth the last time the Open was staged at Troon, albeit a country mile behind winner Henrik Stenson and runner-up Phil Mickelson, as he bids to lift the Claret Jug for the second time.

The addition of 22 yards since 2016 has seen the sixth hole – thankfully usually played downwind – regain its status as the longest on the Open rota, with the shortest – the 123-yard Postage Stamp with its Coffin Bunker – coming two holes later and arguably posing a far bigger test.

“It’s basically a tale of two nines on this course,” McIlroy said. “You feel like you have to make your score on the way out and then sort of hang on coming in.”

Or, as DeChambeau put it: “That back nine has some teeth.”

Identifying which of the 158 players will emerge unscathed on Sunday evening promises to be fascinating viewing.

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