Lee Trevino, left, and Rory McIlroy at the 2022 Open Championship.
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Lee Trevino says it was okay. He even repeated it. OK.
Really?
Didn't Rory McIlroy lead by a few shots on five holes a few weeks ago at the US Open – only to lose?
And didn't McIlroy hit the green on Pinehurst's 15th hole during the final round — with a club choice questioned by at least one analyst — and make bogey?
And wouldn't he swing from 2 feet, 6 inches short of the 16th hole, making bogey again?
And didn't he miss from 3 feet, 9 inches away on the 18th, with a tricky left-to-right slide past the right side of the hole? That led to another bogey — his third over his last four holes — and Bryson DeChambeau bogeyed. He won after hitting one of the most memorable shots of the Open, a 55-yard putt that finished 3 feet, 11 inches from the 18th. And McIlroy was second.
Which, Trevino said, was fine. Twice. He then added more commentary, as you'd expect, with the six-time winner as brilliant as his batting. He was speaking this week on the show A New Kind of Golf show on Sirius XM, and for clarity, below is the full exchange with host Michael Breed, and a question posed by Breed:
“Lee, how is Rory recovering from that debilitating loss at Pinehurst in the US Open?”
“Okay. Okay,” Trevino said. “You finished second. What's up? You could have finished third or fourth or fifth, you know? Be proud of what you did.
“He played very well.”
Trevino then tagged DeChambeau. His bunker shots were exceptional.
“You have to give it to Bryson,” he said on the show. “I mean Bryson is done. I mean, that golf shot – listen, I tell people it's the hardest golf shot – there are two hardest golf shots: One is the next shot after the shank. That's a tough shot. Once you hit one, you have to go hit it again. That is a very heavy shot.
“But the other is when you're hitting a shot at 50 yards, you know what I'm talking about? Because you have to get another one of those balls. You can't throw that sand that far. You have to get the ball there. You have to play the ball back, you have to hit it, there are many things you have to do. And for that guy to hit 4 feet…”
In the tense moments after Rory McIlroy's US Open defeat
Alan Bastable
Trevino then went back to McIlroy. The putt on 18 was tricky.
“The putt that Rory had was the hardest putt in the world,” Trevino said on the show. “People don't understand that. People saw him miss a really bad 4-foot putt on 18, but you have to understand – that thing was smart, and it broke well. And the problem with that putt is that you can't hit it hard enough to hold the line. Because if you hit it hard to catch the line and miss it, in other words, it's going to go 8 feet. The hardest putt he had.
“Yes, it is unfortunate. Unfortunately.”
As for McIlroy's thoughts? Took a while to arrive OK. After that Sunday in Pinehurst, he walked away without speaking to reporters. He went to New York. Walked the High Line, Manhattan's famous elevated walkway. He did not play in three tournaments. When he returned, at the Genesis Scottish Open last month, he was immediately asked about Pinehurst.
And he gave this long answer:
“I think the way I described Pinehurst on Sunday was like it was a good day until it wasn't,” he began. “I did things that Sunday that I haven't been able to do for the past few years. He took control of the golf tournament. The putts are holed when I need them. Well, especially when I need to. Made birdies. You know, I really put myself in there. And then, look, it's obviously unfortunate to miss those last two putts, or the putt on 16 and obviously the putt on 18.
“Yes, it was a difficult day. It was difficult for a few days after that, obviously. But I think as you get further away from what happened, you start to see the good and you start to see all the good things you've done throughout the week.
“Yes, you are learning something there, too, of course. I clearly remember starting to feel uncomfortable waiting for my second putt on 16, and you know, the last putt, it was a really tricky putt. And I knew exactly where Bryson was. I knew I had to hit it hard. If the guy in the back didn't care, I would have hit it hard.
Rory McIlroy had a lot to say about his fall at Pinehurst
Sean Zak
“But because I was in two minds, I didn't know if Bryson was going to make the par or not, it was one of those times where I had to make sure that if the putt didn't go in, it didn't go 10 feet, which would have been easier to have.
“Looking back, yes, I probably didn't know a little bit about where Bryson was and what he was doing, but it was the nature of the golf course and how the golf course flowed. After the 14th tee, he's looking at the 13th green, and I had to wait for my tee shot on the 15th before he hit, or you know, to let him hit his second shot on the 14th. it flows, it just lets me know exactly what you're doing at the same time. So it took me out of my little world a little bit.
“But no, I mean, looking back on that day, like looking back on some of the hardest times in my career, I'll learn a lot from it and hopefully I'll put that to good use.” It's something that has been a bit of a theme throughout my career. I was able to take those hard times and do good things soon after.”
Editor's note: To listen to A New Breed of Golf Show on SiriusXM, please click here.
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