The putt Rory McIlroy narrowly missed for birdie on the 72nd green summed up his week. It was a performance of so near, yet so far for the Northern Irishman – A familiar theme in recent Majors. Failing to make birdie on the last meant that he missed out by a shot on finishing as joint runner-up. Even if it hadn’t been for Brian Harman’s runaway victory, Rory would have come up just shy in his quest to end his ever-lengthening Major drought.
With Tommy Fleetwood’s inexplicable tee shot on the 17th leading to a triple bogey, the local lad finished three back of those sharing second spot. Harman’s heroics aside, the Hoylake faithful would have been left disappointed even if the left-hander hadn’t shown up. Both of the fans’ favourites, Rory and Tommy, would have fallen short no matter what the diminutive eventual winner had produced on Sunday.
