Breakfast Ball #24: McIlroy Checks in to the Heartbreak Hotel

What an incredible tournament. From start to finish, the golf was fantastic and it ended with nine holes of the most ridiculous drama. However, that doesn’t make up for the heartbreaking finish for any European golf fan. Rory’s wait goes on.

In This Week’s Newsletter:

Bryson DeChambeau Wins the 2024 US Open as McIlroy’s Wait for a Major goes on

Sports. The lord giveth and the lord taketh away. In a tournament with 156 participants, there can only be one winner.

Rory McIlroy’s quest for an elusive fifth major title will continue after he bogeyed three of the last four holes en route to a one stroke defeat to Bryson DeChambeau. Entering the final day, DeChambeau led by three shots after an impressive 67 on Saturday. However, after McIlroy birdied the ninth, tenth, twelfth and thirteenth holes on Sunday he led by two with five to play.

McIlroy’s putter deserted him in recent flirtations with major triumph. He lost 1.98 and 1.41 strokes putting during the final rounds of his last two close calls in majors during the 2023 US Open and the 2022 Open Championship. It seemed like that wasn’t going to be an issue this time around. He holed birdie putts of 5, 14, 20, 22, and 28 feet through 13 holes on one of the hardest putting tests in the world. It was finally his time.

Then, disaster struck on the 16th hole. McIlroy, clinging to a one-shot lead, faced a two-and-a-half-foot putt for par. He had made all 496 of his putts inside three feet this season, but this time, his putter failed him and the ball lipped out. On the final hole, McIlroy found himself in a similar predicament after his drive landed in the waste area, forcing him to lay up to the green. A good pitch left him with a 3-foot 9-inch putt, but it slid from left to right and beyond the hole. Bryson needed only a par to secure victory.

There was still time for one more piece of glorious sports drama. After he was forced into a bunker 55 yards out due to an errant drive, Bryson DeChambeau produced one of the greatest shots ever seen in the final hole of a major. As McIlroy looked on, DeChambeau made par and won his second US Open.

It is hard to understand how McIlroy will get over this loss. He has come so close to winning another major on many occasions, but he found the most heartbreaking way to lose yesterday. His next opportunity for major triumph comes in 24 days at The Open. We will see if he can regroup in time for that. More on that process in next week’s newsletter.

The US Open at Pinehurst No. 2 Lives up to the Billing as Golf’s Toughest Test

In last week’s newsletter I asked a simple question: can a US Open course without thick rough actually challenge today’s professionals?

The Answer? Unequivocally yes.

Pinehurst No. 2 was an absolute delight. While debate remains around the advancements in golf equipment and the impending ball rollback, Pinehurst displayed that today’s pros can definitely still be challenged without the need for thick rough. This mainly came from the signature Donald Ross turtleback greens that punished players for shots that were anything less than perfect.

From Ludvig Åberg to Viktor Hovland, players struggled all week with the slopes on each green. If you didn’t land your ball in the right part of the green, it would roll off into green side bunkers, tight run off areas, or in the worst case, the waste areas that surround every fairway. On almost every hole there was an area that you simply couldn’t end up in or it was an automatic bogey or worse.

The greens got more firm and fast as the week went on with scorching temperatures in North Carolina, making it even more difficult for players. Scottie Scheffler: “The greens this week kind of had my number. I felt like I hit a lot of really good putts that did weird things at the cup that I was not expecting them to do.” The world number one made the cut on the number, but was unable to stick with the leaders due to the difficulty of the course.

Pinehurst tested every single possible shot a player could need to take. But most of all, it tested mental fortitude. You were going to get some bad breaks here and there, hitting what seemed to be a good shot and ending up in a horrendous lie in trodden down sand as McIlroy did on Sunday. However, what defined your success was how you dealt with those bad breaks. Did you immediately switch focus to getting out of there with bogey, or did you let it compound in your head? Bryson kept on fighting, and ultimately that is why he won. He only hit six of fourteen fairways on Sunday, but kept plugging away and his work paid off.

A major venue for a major tournament. What a week.

Quotes and Numbers of the Week from the US Open

8

The number of players that finished under par after 72 holes at the US Open. Pinehurst exceeded almost all expectations in how it played this week.

21

Top ten finishes for Rory McIlroy in major tournaments since he won his last major in 2014. This includes six straight top tens at the US Open and eleven top five results.

6

Bryson DeChambeau only managed to hit 6 of 14 fairways during his final round on Sunday. He relied heavily on his approach and short game to card a final round score of 71.

+5

The score needed to make the cut at the US Open. This was the highest score relative to par to make the cut since the 2020 US Open, when Bryson DeChambeau won his first major.

Other Results from the US Open:

• Matthieu Pavon had his best major finish of his career to date with a fifth place result 🇫🇷 

  • Pavon had struggled in recent weeks, so it was great to see a return to form for the Frenchman

• Ludvig Åberg was leading entering day three of the tournament, but had a difficult weekend and finished in a tie for twelfth 🇸🇪 

• 🇧🇪 Thomas Detry, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tommy Fleetwood, 🇮🇪 Shane Lowry, and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Aaron Rai all finished inside the top 20

• 🇮🇹 Francesco Molinari hit one of the most clutch shots of all time on the par three ninth. Needing a hole in one to make the cut, Molinari went right at the pin and his ball found the bottom of the cup. Incredible stuff

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Bob MacIntyre, 🇳🇴 Viktor Hovland, and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Justin Rose were some of the notable European names not to make the cut

Coming up this week on Tour

• The PGA Tour has a signature event this week at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut

• LIV Golf has their next event in Nashville

• The DP World Tour moves to the Netherlands for the KLM Open

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