ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Rory McIlroy took off his hat to honor the crowd and took it off as he shook Victor Hovland’s hand as he walked off the 18th green, and kept it on as he walked toward the stairs that led up and down to the venue. where he had to sign the most disappointing score sheet. He continued to run his hands through his hair, going over what had just happened.
It’s not your hair that’s the problem, Rory. You’ve seen Cam Smith. It wasn’t from nerves either. Or the sense of history for Did we mention this was the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews. Or the fact that seemingly all the Old Course fans cheered McIlroy as if he was going to split the winner’s check with them. Or Rory’s streak that just reached eight full years and 31 consecutive majors.
It was just golf. Golf happened. McIlroy started the day with a share of the lead and a sound game plan. Play smart. Stay in its “cocoon”. He and the charming Hovland were four shots ahead of everyone else. He didn’t need to be a superhero. He needed to make a shot or two, and he needed Smith not to shoot the closing 64 he did.
McIlroy played pretty well on Sunday. He really did. He looked like the best driver on the planet that he could possibly be. He threw a few missed approaches, but that happens and they weren’t that loose. Afterwards, he said, “I played a really controlled round of golf.” Analyzing McIlroy’s psyche is a popular pastime in which he often engages. But there’s really no indication that his problem Sunday was mental. Asked what kind of pressure he felt, he said confidently: “Not as much as maybe I would have allowed myself to feel before.
“The putter just cooled off a little bit today,” McIlroy said, and that’s about the right way to describe it. Not bad. Cold. His pace on the greens was great. But he hit eight putts between 10 and 20 feet and missed none of them. He didn’t have a single birdie for one putt.
Rory McIlroy could only watch as good shot after good shot missed going into Sunday.
Michael Madrid/USA Today
“I tried to stay as patient as possible and kept hitting good shots,” he said. “I hit a good shot on 13 … 14 … 15 … 16 … 17. I hit good shots. They just didn’t let up.”
If he makes a significant mistake, it’s a tactical one: “There were a lot of shots today where I couldn’t trust myself to start inside the hole. I always played it off the edge or just outside, thinking it would move. A lot of times they just stayed there.”
It happens to everyone. Tiger Woods said after many rounds that he just couldn’t feel the speeds on the green. Jack Nicklaus has finished second in more majors (20) than he has won (18).
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There were moments during McIlroy’s big drought when he seemed lost in his own head. Before the final round of the 2018 Masters, he publicly tried to put pressure on Patrick Reed, but that kind of play isn’t really McIlroy’s thing and he played poorly the next day. At the 2018 British Open at Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland, he hit his first shot out of bounds and made quadruple bogey. It was part of the pattern: He would show up often, play himself out of contention early, then play loose with reduced pressure and get into the top 10 on the back foot.
But McIlroy sounded different this week. He looked comfortable with himself and his mental approach every day. He took the lead on Saturday night and said, “My hotel room is right across from the big yellow board on 18 over there, to the right of 1st. And every time I go out, I try to picture McIlroy at the top.” He wasn’t running from the moment, but he wasn’t getting ahead of himself either.
He was patient and level-headed – and in the end, he was just a victim of Cam Smith’s superiority like everyone else. Smith made five straight birdies on the back and a gutsy par on the 17th, Road Hole. McIlroy, playing a group back, realized he needed a birdie before reaching No. 18, and when he didn’t, he needed an eagle on 18.
He had to chip a 33-yarder through Sin Valley to force a playoff. He then said, “It’s a tough chip. I mean, I thought it was either a hole or nothing, really. At this point I wasn’t really trying to pick T2 with Cameron Young.
He hit his chip aggressively and it crept 20 feet past the pin. If he needed a birdie on 18, he probably would have made one and shot a 69 in the final round. Had he made one mid-range shot earlier in the round, he likely would have forced a playoff. The margin was so thin.
His ending was disappointing, but not disheartening. McIlroy had a great year at the majors: second at the Masters, eighth at the PGA, tied for fifth at the US Open and third here. As he said, “This is one of the best seasons I’ve had in a long time.” As Hovland said, “He came really close and played really well this year. But at the end of the day he keeps playing the way he’s (playing), he’ll get one soon, I think … still, yeah, it’s hard. You’ve got to finish it.
The crowd showered McIlroy with love all week – not just because of his past accomplishments or the way he played, but because of the stands he occupied. It is fighting a fair but uphill battle against the Saudi Arabian government funded LIV Golf. (Smith dodged questions about whether he would join LIV; we know how that story usually ends.) When Smith received the Claret Jug, McIlroy said of the fans: “(I wish I could have given them a little more to cheer about.) Right now there is a worthy winner right on the 18th green.”
McIlroy would also be a worthy champion. This week, McIlroy came as close as he could get to winning a major without actually winning the major. He won’t get a trophy for it. But it’s still true.
> Cameron Smith rolls to Sunday 64, steals British Open from fan favorite > Cameron Young does his best with Sunday 65 at St Andrews, but his partner fires 64 > Final payouts: Cam Smith banks $2.5 million from record-breaking prize money
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