Rory McIlroy could be forgiven for wondering if a fifth Major title will forever elude him, after yesterday missing out by one stroke to Wyndham Clark at the US Open.
This was McIlroy’s 19th top-10 finish at a Major since the last of his four wins and his sixth from the last seven.
Off the green, he was the standout player of the week, hitting 59 greens in regulation to the next best of 53. But, on a final day which began with a one-shot deficit to Clark, the Northern Irishman took a total of 36 putts in 18 holes.
His four-round total of 271 would have been enough to win most other editions in the tournament’s 128-year history, but not in 2023.
As he put it succinctly in the aftermath of another missed opportunity: “I didn’t do much wrong. I just didn’t do much right.”
There were echoes of last year’s Open at St Andrews, where he also finished runner-up. That time, he was undone by Cameron Smith’s stunning, late-charging final-round 64.
This time, at the Los Angeles Country Club, he was kept at bay by Clark’s stubborn refusal to buckle under immense pressure. Going into the final round in the penultimate group, McIlroy must have fancied his chances, particularly with a birdie on the opening hole.
Clark, meanwhile, would have been few people’s pick for victory at the start of the week. This was only his seventh start in a Major. He had missed the cut at four of them and recorded a best finish of 75th, hardly an indicator of a future Major champion.
But victory at Quail Hollow last month — his first on the PGA Tour — had given the 29-year-old American the belief that such a win might be achievable.
That opening birdie proved to be the only one of McIlroy’s closing round, as he carded a bogey and 16 pars.
McIlroy’s four-round total of 271 would have been enough to win most other editions in the US Open’s 128-year history
And there will be moments he will be left to rue — a missed birdie putt from 12 feet at the fourth and a four-footer to pick up a shot at the 14th, as well as a bogey putt at the eighth and another birdie that eluded him at the ninth.
Afterwards, McIlroy said: “When I do finally win this next Major, it’s going to be really, really sweet. I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another Major championship. There are a couple of things I will rue, the chip on 14 being one. It was really hard to get the ball close, but I hung in there and just didn’t quite get the job done.
“I have just got to keep putting myself in these positions. Sooner or later it’s going to happen for me. I will keep coming back until I get another one.”
Clark, meanwhile, became the fifth consecutive first-time Major winner at the US Open and he dedicated this, the biggest victory of his career, to his mother, Lise, who died of breast cancer in 2013.
“I just felt like my mum was watching over me today and you know she can’t be here,” he said. “Miss you, mum.
“I’ve worked so hard and I’ve dreamed about this moment for so long. There’s been so many times I’ve visualised being here in front of you guys and winning this championship. I just feel like it was my time.”
For Clark, there were a number of pivotal moments during his final round. He did well to only bogey the par-five eighth after being unable to clear his ball from the thick grass until eventually saving himself with a near-perfect chip out of the rough.
He went three shots clear with a birdie on the 14th, but that lead was back to just one shot two holes later after back-to-back bogeys.
As for McIlroy, his last Major shot of the season comes next month at The Open. Asked when his attention would turn to that after his latest near miss, he said simply: “About three minutes ago.”
