Why missing out on the Irish Open will be a huge deal to Rory McIlroy
Rasmus Højgaard took the title - and you can't argue that he didn't deserve it, after a final round 65, that included three birdies on the last three holes.
Think the Irish Open is no big deal to Rory McIlroy? After all, he craves another Major, having won the last of his four a decade ago.
He was keen to capture Olympic gold too, but finished in a tie for fourth in Tokyo and a tie for fifth in Paris. He took a while to warm to the Ryder Cup but now loves it, and has become a key player for Europe.
McIlroy is still ranked as the third best golfer in the world, but nobody can deny that frustration sums up so many tournaments where he has flattered to deceive.
Would the Irish Open in Royal County Down be another for the list? He went into the final round as leader, but we've learned from bitter experience that McIlroy can find all sorts of ways to end up second best.
Rasmus Højgaard took the title - and you can't argue that he didn't deserve it, after a final round 65, that included three birdies on the last three holes.
But it was there for McIlroy. Not for the first time, though, the pressure holes found him wanting - especially the bogey on the 17th.
This will gnaw at the Downman for a long time. Think missing out on the Irish Open is not that big a deal to him? Well, you couldn't be more wrong. It's not just about pocketing another seven figure cheque, either.
The money game matters to professional golfers but, at this stage of his career, it's not McIlroy's primary motivation.
We know this is a huge deal just by looking at his profiles on social media. What does he use as the main photo on his feed on X?
It's not a snap of him winning the US Open, or either of his US PGA titles, or his Open triumph at Royal Liverpool in 2014. It's not a pic of him celebrating in the Team Europe colours, either.
Instead, for the past eight years, McIlroy has chosen a fine action photograph of him sending a sublime five wood into the 18th green.
The course is the K Club. The event is the Irish Open in 2016 - the only time he'd won the tournament before yesterday.
In a later interview with Paul Kimmage for the Sunday Independent, McIlroy explained why it meant so much to him, why he savours that pic.
"It's just a great scene. I get goosebumps thinking about it now. It's one of the best feelings of my life,'' he said.
"My Mum was more emotional after that Irish Open win than anything else. It's the one tournament my mother wanted me to win, or to see me win, before anything else.
"It means an awful lot. I remember flying back from Munich when Michael Campbell won at Portmarnock in 2003. We flew over the golf course on the way in to land and I remember looking down and seeing the crowd and thinking, 'Hopefully that's me one day'. So it goes back a long way.
"There's other tournaments that people would deem more important but those other tournaments haven't meant as much to me as the Irish Open."
Imagine what this one would have meant to him. Winning on a course just 30 miles away from where he grew up in Holywood, Co Down.
McIlroy doesn't have the baby fat of his early days on the circuit, but still carries himself with a youthful exuberance.
That belies the fact that he turned 35 in May. There are golfers who have won big in their 40s but the general wisdom is that you hit your prime in the sport between 30 and 35.
Golfers are some of the most self-obsessed sportspeople around. That goes with the territory in such an individualistic and brutally demanding sport.
McIlroy went to the Olympics suffering from the hangover of crumbling in the US Open, where he bogeyed three of the last four holes to let the trophy slip from his grasp.
Now he's gone through a Groundhog Day on home soil. The pain will take a long time to disappear.
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