Rory McIlroy left Pinehurst immediately after a humiliating collapse across the closing holes of the US Open saw another major title slip agonizingly from his grasp.
With the tournament at his mercy and leading by two shots with five holes to play, McIlroy collapsed at the finish with bogeys on three of his final four holes, including a heart-breaker at the 18th.
The Northern Irishman amazingly missed from two feet and six inches for par on the 16th and less than four feet on the 18th to suffer another heartbreaking end in his 10-year pursuit for a fifth Major.
McIlroy did not hang around to speak to media and was pictured by golf reporter Jason Sobel packing his clubs into a car after Bryson DeChambeau made sure of victory.
NBC, the tournament broadcaster in the US, also said McIlroy declined to be interviewed.
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Video also emerged of a devastated McIlroy watching DeChambeau wrap up glory in the clubhouse. It was an ending that may well be considered more painful than 2011 Masters implosion.
But that will be for the analysts to decide over the coming days. As DeChambeau got his hands on the trophy, McIlroy’s tires spun in the gravel of the parking lot as he fled to lick his wounds.
It marks a disastrous end to another extraordinary week for McIlroy, who on Tuesday night announced he was calling off his divorce from wife Erica.
In a May 13 court filing – days before the PGA Championship at Valhalla – his attorney had said the marriage was irretrievably broken.
‘There have been rumors about my personal life recently, which is unfortunate,’ McIlroy said in the statement. ‘Responding to each rumor is a fool’s game. Over the past weeks, Erica and I have realized that our best future was as a family together. Thankfully, we have resolved our differences and look forward to a new beginning.’
But for such a large part of Sunday’s final round, it looked like McIlroy was going to write a fairytale ending to such a tumultuous chapter of his life.
Starting the day three shots behind DeChambeau, McIlroy made the ideal start with a birdie from 20 feet on the first and found himself just a shot behind when DeChambeau bogeyed the fourth.
McIlroy was two shots ahead by the time he was walking to the 14th tee. The ‘Rory’ chants grew louder and DeChambeau could hear them.
McIlroy took bogey from behind the 15th green, but he stayed one ahead when DeChambeau, playing in the group behind him, had his first three-putt of the week on the 15th when he missed from 4 feet.
And that’s where the U.S. Open took an agonizing turn for McIlroy. He missed a 30-inch par putt on the 16th hole to fall back into a tie. On the 18th, McIlroy’s tee shot landed behind a notorious wiregrass bush. He blasted out short of the green and pitched beautifully to 4 feet. And he missed again.
McIlroy was watching from the scoring room as DeChambeau escaped from an awful lie left of the fairway – a tree in his back swing, a root in front of the golf ball – and punched it out into the bunker.
He expertly blasted a shot from the soft sand that rolled out on the crispy green to set up the winning putt.
And from there, Rory could do nothing but pack his bags.