Rory McIlroy's lost week at the US Open ended with him wondering what could have been
At 3:40 pm local time on Saturday, Rory McIlroy sent shockwaves through Shinnecock Hills. After missing the sixth green to the right, McIlroy pulled the putter and rolled in a 66-foot birdie putt. Ten minutes later, he added another circle to his scorecard, his third in a row, and was in tight meetings at the US Open, causing a frenzy in the Long Island crowd.
McIlroy, who said one of his remaining goals is to win the US Open at the US Open, came out on Saturday with the trophy – and eventual winner Wyndham Clark – in his sights. Everything was in front of him, the next box to re-mark the famous work.
Twenty hours later, Rory McIlroy was just trying to get out of Long Island as fast as possible.
“You try to come out here today with hope and you try to muster up to put a good one in there. But a couple of bogeys on the front nine, I was just trying to run to the 18th green,” McIlroy said with a laugh Sunday after finishing six over in the tournament.
That's how quickly things can change at the US Open at Shinnecock, especially if it starts playing like the US Open.
McIlroy made a chance on Saturday when he shot under Clark, who had opened with a bogey behind him. McIlroy had been suspended for a week until then. He had taken a punch from William Flynn's design, wiped the blood from his forehead and punched back. He had dropped the shot but also made a couple of long distance birdies and gave himself a chance to play 27 holes.
The unraveling happened quickly.
McIlroy bombed his drive 365 yards down the par-4 10th fairway to the bottom of the green. But, as he did in the second round, he sent a wedge behind the green and made bogey. Three-putts on 12 and 14 followed to bring him back to even par. Then on the 4th 15th, McIlroy missed a two-foot par putt. Another bogey at 18 brought him home at 40 and put him nine shots behind Clark entering the final round. By the time McIlroy reached the 18th green on Saturday, that patented swing had left a lot of time in his step. The power he got from nine players had either evaporated or been transferred to Scottie Scheffler, who had been acting himself. McIlroy rubbed his face and exhaled. A long, hard battle with a spirited Shinnecock had left him exhausted and heading into the US Open Sunday with little on the line but a faint hope of doing the impossible.
It was there for the taking and he disappeared before he even noticed it had slipped.
“I think it's won the battle over me right now,” McIlroy said on Sunday.
“I think looking back on the whole week, obviously I was going to hit the back nine yesterday. I found myself two under par in the tournament after nine yesterday, and then I came out and played a really bad back 9. I kind of shot myself out of the tournament. Obviously, I was really disappointed to get off the course last night.”
The six-time major champion arrived on Sunday hoping to make an early charge when the wind died down – to do as Tommy Fleetwood did in 2018, post a number at the back of the pack and see if it was enough.
But the roar that Rory had hoped to produce never materialized. He made a ho-hum par on the first and then missed a seven-foot putt on the second. Another bogey behind the swinging fairway on No. 3 put him 11 shots back of Clark and it meant it was time for McIlroy to hang up his boxing gloves at the US Open and make a quick exit. He turned in a 4-over 39 and, in the kind of cruel twist golf likes to deliver, McIlroy found something that would have helped his US Open cause – just a day later.
For the first time all week, McIlroy hit the fairway on the 10th green and made birdie. He followed it with another 11-year-old bird. A day earlier, that would have put McIlroy four under and right on Clark's heels. A day later, it was a standing ovation from the Long Island faithful.
“I could have done that starting after nine yesterday,” McIlroy said.
Eight years ago, McIlroy left Shinnecock Hills on Friday after being blown away by the ocean. That's when he vowed to become a player more comfortable on the hard, US Open-style tracks instead of the soft PGA Tour setup. Over the years, McIlroy has been one of the best US Open players of the last decade. From 2019-2025, he had six straight top 10s and a runner-up finish at the US Open. When he holed a 66-foot birdie on Saturday, it felt like Rory McIlroy's next US Open moment might finally have arrived. His strategy and perseverance had put him in a position to hunt down Clark and put the Shinnecock pellt on his wall.
Then, Shinnecock delivered a grass-maker, and McIlroy let go as the sun set over Peconic Bay on Saturday. By the time he settled down, his US Open dreams had faded, and he was left with an 18-hole trip to nowhere at Shinnecock and questions about what might have been had he been able to stay longer in the fight.
