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Rory McIlroy may NEVER recover from this US Open - he was 7ft from glory but instead, a week that began with him calling off his divorce still ends in heartbreak
Shortly before 4pm on Sunday, the clouds briefly parted and the heat was turned up around Pinehurst. Many of the world’s finest players had already fallen at the feet of this unforgiving cradle of American golf. But Rory McIlroy was still standing.
After three-and-half-gruelling days. After 10 years of heartache and hard lessons. Since winning the 2014 PGA Championship, a fifth major has lingered like a mirage on the horizon. McIlroy has nursed scar tissue and fought doubts. He has visited Jesus and decided that only by learning patience would he avoid more waiting. All for afternoons such as this. There have been a fair few.
There have been near-misses and McIlroy has let glory slip through his fingers before. But never quite like this.
McIlroy felt before this US Open that he was closer than ever to ending his drought. He was right.
With three holes to play of an extraordinary final day of a bonkers week, the Northern Irishman led Bryson DeChambeau by one shot. He had a par putt from 2ft 6ins. He missed it. And then on 18, McIlroy had another par putt from 3ft 9ins. He missed it.
Rory McIlroy lost the US Open in the most devastating fashion on Sunday afternoon
With the tournament there for the taking, McIlroy missed two putts inside four feet
Many will question how the 35-year-old McIlroy will recover from such bitter devastation
That opened the door for DeChambeau to win his second US Open. He had a par putt from 3ft 11ins. He didn't miss it.
You have to wonder how McIlroy will recover from this. You have to wonder will that fifth major ever arrive.
Both he and DeChambeau had promised boring golf all week. Both treated us to an incredible tug of war. Every hole brought more and more chaos. McIlroy began the day three shots behind but by the 14th tee, he was two in front.
It was the first time he had been outright leader all week. It was never going to be that easy. But having turned the tide with four birdies in five holes, McIlroy - the 2011 champion - turned the gun on his foot. He bogeyed 15, 16 and 18 and watched DeChambeau win it with a remarkable up-and-down.
Having sent his drive down near the grandstand, the 2020 Champion hacked the ball into a bunker. Somehow, he put it close - 'it was the shot of my life' - and he held his nerve. For the second-successive US Open, McIlroy lost by a shot. That is now 21 top-10 finishes since he last won a major.
After DeChambeau secured victory, the Northern Irishman could only bow his head and then rush for the car. McIlroy was out of Pinehurst in a flash but he won't be able to outrun the implications of this. A week that started with news that his divorce was off ended in heartbreak.
The leaderboard shows that this final-round 69 left him on five-under-par, one behind DeChambeau, one ahead of Tony Finau and Patrick Cantlay. What it doesn't show? That McIlroy was less than 7ft from lifting the trophy.
This was the first time he and Cantlay had played together since last year’s Ryder Cup, when simmering tensions boiled over in Rome. There was a tepid embrace on the first tee yesterday before both began a common mission: reel in DeChambeau.
McIlroy's week began with him calling off his divorce from wife of seven years, Erica Stoll
But the manner of his implosion on Sunday will have still McIlroy feeling heartbroken
McIlroy's collapse left Bryson DeChambeau on hand to win his second US Open
At that point, the overnight leader was busy on the range, testing brand new driver heads 15 minutes before his tee time.
Four years have passed since DeChambeau won this tournament, having put on 40lbs and turned his game into a live science experiment.
The 30-year-old became a pantomime villain and then a LIV rebel. Recently, though, DeChambeau has become an unlikely favorite.
There are plenty who wonder if this new image is a carefully-curated PR exercise. Pinehurst didn’t care either way. And on Sunday DeChambeau was thrust on to the back foot immediately. His opening tee shot settled in a divot and then a roar rolled back up the fairway as McIlroy sunk an opening birdie putt from 20ft. We had lift-off.
DeChambeau’s first drive with that new face missed the fairway and the leader flirted with trouble on several of the early holes. His powers of recovery, so impressive on Saturday, failed him at four and suddenly the gap was one.
DeChambeau could consider himself fortunate that Cantlay had an early wobble, too. And that McIlroy was a victim of brutal luck. A booming second shot into the par-five fifth looked to have set up a possible eagle chance.
Instead, McIlroy’s ball trickled all the way into the native area and he ended up with a bogey. It was that sort of day - survive. Make do. Every passing hole brought the prospect of a reshuffle at the top.
McIlroy made gutsy par saves at seven and eight. Then he made his move. A birdie at the par-three ninth took him to within one of DeChambeau. They were tied minutes later, when McIlroy went back-to-back and sparked bedlam in the galleries around the 10th green.
McIlroy was left visibly stunned by the putt that refused to drop on the 18th green
The Northern Irishman's face was a picture of devastation after a brutal, humiliating ending
Behind him, DeChambeau was wayward off the tee and riding his luck. Before long, though, he was back out on his own. For a few minutes at least. McIlroy simply would not let DeChambeau get away - after the 2020 champion moved to seven-under at 10, McIlroy responded with yet another birdie.
And then he turned the tables. The Northern Irishman found a birdie at 13, DeChambeau bogeyed 12 and we had a two shot swing. Another should have followed almost immediately, when McIlroy found trouble and DeChambeau had a makeable birdie putt.
The Northern Irishman made bogey at 15 but then, somehow, so did his rival. What a time for DeChambeau to make his first three-putt of the entire week. What a time for McIlroy to miss from inside three feet.
He was 496-for-496 from there this season until he reached the 16th. He couldn't miss on the greens for much of Sunday. And then, all of a sudden, McIlroy couldn’t make a thing. The wait goes on. The bleeding just will not stop.