This wasn’t about Bryson DeChambeau’s bunker shot or McIlroy’s perennially put-upon caddie - it was about the scrambled brain that brought two short putts missed when everything was on the line
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts after finishing the 18th hole during the final round of the US Open at Pinehurst Resort on Sunday night. Photograph: Jared C Tilton/Getty Images
Bryson DeChambeau’s bunker shot for all time? Couldn’t have mattered less had McIlroy sunk the two putts. Those curious club/shot selections down the stretch? A wry footnote at worst, something to laugh about through the puffed cheeks of victory. Backing off shots in the closing holes? Understandable nerves, actually quite sweet in a way – as long as the putts go down.Bryson DeChambeau beats Rory McIlroy to US Open titleThis wasn’t Harry Diamond’s fault.
As the leading golf statto Justin Ray pointed out, McIlroy had faced 496 putts inside three feet all season standing on the 16th green and had made all 496 of them. He had holed them in every circumstance, from early Thursday mornings to late Sunday evenings and all imaginable scenarios in between. Of the countless ways for his challenge to fall apart, every analyst of his game would have got a long way down the list before landing on his short putting.
Except now, when he reached into his top hat, there was no rabbit to pull out. The easiest part of the trick had become the most difficult. All the lights were on him, all the trumpets were tuned and ready. All the scrapes and calluses of a decade’s toil in the majors were about to get their payoff. And the weight of it crushed him.
The psychodrama will play out over the next while, as it must. It will be fascinating to see how he handles it. He’s down to play the Travellers Championship this week. Will he turn up? If he does, will he do a press conference? Will he talk about choking, that great unspeakable bogeyman taboo of golf?
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