ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Rory McIlroy let himself dream. He couldn’t help himself.
The huge yellow scoreboard that towered over the final hole at St. Andrews stared back at him whenever he looked out his hotel room window. He imagined his name in black block letters at the top of the list, the same image he had thought of countless times as a child.
The dream came true a day earlier. His name was at the top on Saturday night after a 66 that tied him for the Open lead with Victor Hovland. McIlroy spoke the other night about his “cocoon,” the place where he can separate his process from the pressure. But every time he peered out his hotel room window, he allowed himself to imagine what could be the most important victory of his career.
“You have to allow yourself to dream,” McIlroy said. “You have to allow yourself to think about it and what would 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.”
Only Hovland was tied with McIlroy through the first 54 holes of The 150th Open. Both shot 16-under 200, including a matching 66 in Saturday’s penultimate group, to earn Sunday’s final tee time. They were four ahead of third placers Cameron Smith and Cameron Young. McIlroy wasn’t the only one dreaming of him winning at the Home of Golf. The victory of Great Britain’s great hope in the spiritual center of the game made too much sense.
It had been 12 years since he last played the Open on the Old Course, and eight years since his last major win. The greatest player of his generation and one of the greatest Europeans of all time, McIlroy had suffered close calls in majors earlier this year, finishing in the top 10 in each of the first three. Then on Friday, as he began his second round, he met Tiger Woods when Woods’ career at St. Andrews was likely coming to an end. Woods was touched by McIlroy, who tipped his hat in respect as they passed each other. Woods’ last Open at St. Andrews, where he won twice, could end up being the first St. Andrews victory for the best player since Woods.
McIlroy was trying to join Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Europe’s two best in the modern era, Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros, by winning on the Old Course, a setting that carries extra significance. A win would tie Ballesteros with five major triumphs and leave him one short of Faldo’s record for most majors by a European player since the First World War. McIlroy is the player in today’s game who pays the most attention to context. His legacy is his priority at this point in his career, and only a win at Augusta National would add more to that. Like Jordan Spieth seven years earlier, however, the sentimental favorite did not win at St. Andrews.
McIlroy was bogey free on Sunday but made just two birdies. His 70 left him in third place, two shots behind winner Cameron Smith. Smith birdied the first five holes of the back nine and closed with a 30 en route to a Sunday 64. TOUR rookie Cameron Young, who played with Smith in the penultimate group, carded a 65 to finish second. McIlroy led most of the day but fell behind after Smith carded 14. McIlroy was only able to muster pars on the final holes.
“I knew I had to respond,” McIlroy said. “I just couldn’t find the punches or the punches to do that.”
It was a day that was relatively stress free. He drove it well and didn’t make a bogey, but he also couldn’t hit his approach shots close enough or take advantage of the moving par-4s on the Old Course.
It is the first time in his career that McIlroy has finished in the top 10 at all four majors. He is third in the world rankings and fifth in the FedExCup with two wins this season. This week he talks about the confidence he has in his game and the freedom it creates. He reunited with longtime swing coach Michael Bannon and won last month’s RBC Canadian Open while his caddy, Harry Diamond, was at home with his wife and newborn child. This required him to make more decisions on the course and rely less on his longtime looper.
“I’m in better control of my swing and my game,” he said. He left the US Open last month saying he was “closer than I’ve been in a while.”
But on Sunday, McIlroy struggled to trust his readings on the slow greens at St Andrews and watched several birdies slide past the hole. While Smith was in the midst of his birdie streak, McIlroy couldn’t capitalize on two of St. Andrews’ manageable par-4s, Nos. 9 and 12, and bogeyed the 14th when a birdie would have pulled him even with Smith. McIlroy also missed long putts on 15 and 16, as well as a 20-footer on the difficult 17th after Smith two-putted behind the Road Bunker. Smith’s birdie on the final hole meant McIlroy had to make eagle on 18. It was all over when his second shot missed the hole.
“There were a lot of shots today where I couldn’t trust myself to start inside the hole,” he said. “I always started it on the edge or just outside, thinking it was going to move. A lot of times they just stayed there.”
McIlroy focused on the positives in his post-round press conference and tried to put the result in perspective — “It’s not about life or death,” he said — but the scene after he stepped away from the microphone painted a fuller picture. A golf cart was waiting to take McIlroy to the locker room. He sat down next to his wife, Erica, and rested his head face down on her shoulder. There was no more energy to expend. The battle is over.
The Old Course is a romantic setting for those with a deep connection to the game. A round of historical places evokes different emotions.
Including a broken heart.
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