Rory McIlroy philosophical after US Open near-miss

Make that 33 major starts without a victory for Rory McIlroy.

The Irishman’s wait for a fifth win in golf’s marquee events goes on following his runner-up finish in the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club.

McIlroy, 34, finished Sunday as he started it: one shot behind Wyndham Clark.

A stone-cold putter combined with crispy greens consigned McIlroy to his third runner-up finish in the majors and his 19th top-10 since the most recent of his four triumphs at the 2014 US PGA.

He was, however, characteristically philosophical in the face of his latest disappointment.

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“There’s a couple of things that I probably would have done differently, but all in all, I played a solid round of golf,” he admitted. “That one wedge shot on 14, missed birdie putt on 8 – apart from that, I did everything else the way I wanted to.

“There are fine margins at this level and at this tournament especially, but I fought to the very end. I obviously never give up. And I’m getting closer.

“The more I keep putting myself in these positions, sooner or later it’s going to happen for me. I’ve just got to regroup and get focused for Hoylake in a few weeks’ time.”

McIlroy made only one birdie in the final round, that on the first.

“I thought I did really well at executing my game plan, hitting a lot of fairways, hitting a lot of greens, again, what you should do at a US Open,” he added.

“If anything, I felt like over the last two days when the greens started to get quite crispy that my speed control was off a little bit, and I think that’s the reason I didn’t hole a lot of putts.

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“I don’t think I was hitting bad putts; just hitting them just with slightly the wrong speed. Some were coming up short, some were going a little long.”

Next up for McIlroy is The Open at Royal Liverpool next month. He won the Claret Jug the last time it was contested there in 2014. If he fails to repeat the trick this time around, it will be nine calendar years without a victory in the big four – and don’t think he doesn’t know it.

“When I do finally win this next major, it’s going to be really, really sweet,” he said. “I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship.”

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor