ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — When Rory McIlroy teed off Sunday afternoon on the Old Course under a mercifully gray sky, his world was filled with promise, purpose and more pressure than most could imagine.
A nervous hush hung over the game’s most iconic amphitheater as the UK’s favorite son headed into what many called a pivotal final round of the 150th Open. The raucous cheers that had sent him off late Saturday turned into collective caution.
Round three leader Rory, their Rory, was destined for greatness – sure – but he’d been here before. He had failed before. Call it cautious optimism: hope for the best, prepare for something else.
On an unusually calm day that left the Old Course defenseless and Sin Valley feeling more like a Vale of Questionable Choices, McIlroy made par on each of his first four holes in what was by any means an uninspired start.
The silence grew.
But he was still in command – and even extended his lead to two strokes with a birdie on the fifth hole – and stayed on top of the big yellow leaderboard with another birdie on the 10th hole.
Nothing went according to plan after that.
Rory McIlroy ‘didn’t quite do it’ in the final round
Playing in the group ahead of McIlroy, Cameron Smith bogeyed five straight holes starting on No. 10, tying McIlroy’s lead at the 13th hole and pulling ahead at No. 14.
McIlroy spoke at length in the Saturday twilight about his desire to stay in his competitive cocoon and the need to stay hidden from outside noise. This went beyond his persistent attempts to end a major drought that has now lasted eight years. Earlier in the week, McIlroy had called the Open at St. Andrews “holy grail” and as much as he would have preferred to stick to the clichéd notion of process, he knew that wasn’t an option.
“The Open at St Andrews, it’s the stuff dreams are made of,” he allowed after the third round.
As Saturday’s reception showed, McIlroy wasn’t just playing for himself. His Northern Irish roots aside, this was his Open to win and with every step the galleries reminded him of that.
There was also his status as the game’s undisputed front man in the widening divide between established tours and organizations and the fledgling LIV Golf League. For some, Sunday’s outcome was a kind of good versus evil, with McIlroy playing the role of the PGA Tour’s Great Hope.
It was more context than McIlroy could or would ever admit, but he moved on. He left a long slide attempt one shot short at No. 13 and failed to birdie the par-5 14th hole, which, at 614 yards but on the fire grass, was easy work over the first three days.
By the time he got to the 15th, the audience was on the verge of an anxiety attack.
“It was an amazing atmosphere there yesterday; I was probably four or five bands from Rory, but I felt like everyone was cheering for Rory,” noted Adam Scott. “It was very quiet today for the longest time and it was a very relaxed atmosphere today. I don’t know what’s going on there, to be honest, but yesterday was very different.”
What was happening was that McIlroy had lost momentum and a lead. He two-putted from 42 feet on the 15th hole for par, was no better at No. 16 with a wedge pulled to 40 feet and another par, and by the time he reached the 17th the tables had turned in full panic.
BY Mercer Baggs — July 17, 2022 at 2:38 pm
Rory McIlroy on Day 4 of The Open managed to burn the edges and was never in danger of missing a putt. He just couldn’t take anything.
With the weight of the golf world on his shoulders and the pressure to deliver the ultimate feel-good story, a story the game needs to keep from being overwhelmed by distractions, McIlroy retreated into his cocoon. He was patient and calm. But then again, it’s not made of wires and microchips, even if its gameplay at its best feels very machine-like.
If the cocoon of the golf course protected him from expectations big and small, off the course was a bit more of a challenge. McIlroy’s room at the Rusacks Hotel overlooks the first and 18th holes of the Old Course, and the scene and all it entails is impossible to ignore.
“My hotel room is right across from the big yellow board on 18 there, to the right of the first, and every time I go out I try to picture ‘McIlroy’ as the top name on that leaderboard,” he admitted Sunday after the final round .
In the quiet moments when he was alone with his thoughts. McIlroy allowed himself to imagine his name being carved into the tee for a second time, a first at the Home of Golf. But when his 15-foot birdie putt rolled just past the hole on No. 17 and his flag-bound eagle chip on the 18th, those images faded into the gray sky along with the groans from the gallery.
“At the beginning of the day, [‘McIlroy’] was at the top of the leaderboard but at the start of tomorrow it won’t be,” McIlroy smiled ruefully. “Of course, you have to allow yourself to dream. You have to allow yourself to think about it and what could have been, but once I was on the golf course it was just a task and I was just trying to play the best golf I could.”
His best golf wasn’t enough on Sunday. He didn’t give himself enough chances or take advantage of the opportunities he had.
The line between struggle and victory has never seemed so fine.
“I wish I had hit it a little closer with a few approaches and I wish I would have scored a few more,” he said. “The pater just cooled off a little bit today compared to the last three days.”
Full field results from the 150th Open Championship
McIlroy was on his first tee Friday, preparing to start his second round as Tiger Woods put the finishing touches on a 9-over-par week on the adjacent 18th hole. The two exchanged glances, with McIlroy tipping his hat and McIlroy lamenting afterward that he hoped this St. Andrews Open wasn’t Woods’ last. Woods deserves more, McIlroy claims.
As McIlroy put the finishing touches on his closing 70, it was hard not to conclude that he deserved more, too. He hadn’t played well enough to win The Open and was quick to give Smith credit, but there was a void that always comes with unfulfilled expectations.
This was Rory’s Open, his moment to end a major drought and achieve golf’s ‘holy grail’ at St Andrews.
As he waited to play his third shot on the 72nd hole, McIlroy stared vacantly from the greens of the links to his room at the Rusacks Hotel. He was looking for his wife Erica and daughter Poppy. Under the game’s most intense spotlight — the final hole of a major championship he was supposed to win — he turned away from the stunned masses and wild expectations and into his cocoon and a place where he could embrace both disappointment and perspective.
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