Rory McIlroy missed a painful putt to lose the US Open, but Padraig Harrington says it wasn't as easy as it looked.
Getty Images
Bryson DeChambeau may have won the US Open on Sunday, but Rory McIlroy wasn't short of titles, either – and for all the wrong reasons.
With four holes to play, it was McIlroy's tournament to lose. DeChambeau was suffering from a back stroke, and was not playing his best golf. His driver kept getting wiregrass, and he wasn't doing it as often as his next player. Barring a major slump, it looks like McIlroy will end his major drought.
Two hours later, McIlroy watched from the tee as DeChambeau holed a putt to secure his second US Open title. Even though he played the elimination game in one place, DeChambeau was also the winner. And his great partner in that closing of McIlroy's putter.
On the 16th green, McIlroy missed for the first time of the season within three feet as he holed his par putt. Two holes later, he missed again within four feet, and caught the low side on a toe-inning four-footer.
“It's a tough loss for any player — not just Rory,” said Golf Channel analyst Paul McGinley.
It has become commonplace in the days following McIlroy's fall, not just because he dropped the trophy but he dropped the trophy again. How he let it slide. These misses came from a distance away from where they were supposed to be in the game on Saturday morning. But at the US Open, nothing is guaranteed — and it's costing McIlroy dearly.
That miss will be remembered for a long time, by both McIlroy and the golfing public, with those moments replayed whenever McIlroy enters contention.
That miss will also bother McIlroy – especially on 16 – but the putt on 18 was not so easy. Putting from the top of the hole at Pinehurst No. 2 is always difficult, and on a baked Sunday there may not be a worse place to put it.
“I couldn't believe I missed 16,” three-time champion Padraig Harrington told GOLF's Michael Bamberger earlier this week. “I could see it all day on the 18th. It was terribly difficult. I know it was only four meters, but the quality of the vegetation at that time – burnt, dry, people were walking there. He was looking four inches to the left of the hole or so.”
As for speculation that McIlroy has deviated from his usual putting style, Harrington, who was absent from the Open field last week, said:
Rory McIlroy just lost the US Open in heartbreaking, heartbreaking fashion
Dylan Dethier
“I don't know if you took too many waggles, too many looks or too few looks,” she said. “But Rory will know, and he can look at that and see if that was a problem. Only he would be able to tell if it was a matter of him playing catch up on his show. That's probably the worst thing you can do in your system is that you're in the middle of it and you're trying to catch up I mean focus on it? Whereas if you know what you're doing at the beginning of your routine and it leads to that point, you're more likely to get into it.”
Harrington said last year at the Los Angeles Country Club, the putting environment isn't nearly as tough as it was at Pinehurst. The lines on that green were so manageable, Harrington said, that he didn't even mark the putt within three feet. a week. Going from those conditions to Pinehurst will make any player wander.
“Looking at [Pinehurst’s] vegetables, I'm just telling you, I was standing there hoping someone would come in and say, 'Good,'” Harrington joked. “You'll be looking at it and drawing coins hoping that someone will say, 'Yeah, go ahead.' That's great.'”
Unfortunately for McIlroy, you have to go all out at the US Open. And as a result, he is still searching for his first title in ten years.
Source link
