At U.S. Opens, par is never a bad score, and Rory McIlroy has played Shinnecock Hills’ front nine in a combined five-under for the three rounds. Unfortunately, there’s a back nine to be played too and it was that stretch of holes that leaves his chances of winning a second U.S. Open title in tatters.
A bogey-bogey finish after taking the first round lead on day one was frustrating, but not disastrous; a trio of bogeys on 10, 11 and 12 after clawing his way back to three-under again in round two was annoying, but not the end of the world; a double bogey on the 15th in the same round after managing to repair some of the damage with birdies on 13 and 14 was clumsy, but it didn’t put him out of the tournament; but the five bogeys he made on the same nine-hole stretch on Saturday was a step (or five) too far.
The big question coming into the week was how the world number two would drive the ball, given the struggles he’s uncharacteristically had off the tee in recent weeks and months. But his driving hasn’t been what’s cost him…
On the 10th hole on Friday, he left himself just 79 yards to the flag, but with the pin back left, he bladed his wedge and left an impossible up-and-down. After the round, he admitted he’d actually been too close to the green. On Saturday, with the pin back right, he drove it even longer and left himself an even shorter approach.
His wedge in was a much better shot than the one he hit on Friday, but so fine was the margin between success and failure that while it trickled over the green while the other bounded, the result was pretty much the same.
He was still very much in the tournament at that stage, but he needed to put that mistake behind him and limit the damage over the closing stretch. But a three-putt after coming up short on 12, a missed 12-footer for birdie on 13, another three-putt on 14, and a poor tee shot and a duffed chip on 15 sucked all the momentum out of the round, long before his final dropped shot courtesy of another poor wedge on 18.
At three-over, he’s just four shots off second place and though Wyndham Clark has been magnificent all week, there’s no guarantees that he doesn’t suffer a nightmare Sunday and drop down the leaderboard like a stone. If he plays well, he wins, but there’s nothing anybody but Clark himself can do about that.
The bigger problem is that there are 16 players between McIlroy and Clark, with Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Matt Fitzpatrick among them.
Some, and maybe even most of those 16 could struggle, but it’s odds-on that at least two or three of them put in strong performances, meaning McIlroy needs to play near-perfect golf to overtake them, nevermind Clark.
And even if he comes roaring out of the traps and makes up early ground on the front nine, he’s still got that back nine to come.
He’s openly admitted that winning a ‘proper’ U.S. Open – one at the likes of an Oakmont, a Pinehurst, or a Shinnecock Hills – is high up there on his list of priorities, and he’ll likely look back on this week as one where his good golf was more than good enough but mental lapses and a few poor swings proved costly.
And unless he reverses the trend in spectacular fashion today, there’s no doubting which side of Shinnecock Hills he’ll have fondest memories of.
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