Zoomed-In Shot Shows Just How Poorly Rory McIlroy Hit Losing Putt

Rory McIlroy seemed to be on his way to his first major victory since 2014 during yesterday’s final round of the 2024 US Open. But, disaster struck when he missed two short putts in the final few holes en route to a big collapse.

McIlroy missed a 2.5-foot putt on the 16th hole, before a 4-foot miss on the final hole kept him out of a playoff with winner Bryson DeChambeau.

It was a total choke, there’s no way around that fact. Every player, including Rory, would love to be in a position where they need to make six feet of putts to win a major. Sadly, Rory didn’t get it done.

Frankly, neither putting stroke on the short misses were any good.

https://twitter.com/usopengolf/status/18024690845476784990

I’m sure the nerves were getting to Rory McIlroy, especially on that second putt. Prior to the first miss, he hadn’t missed a putt inside 5 feet all week. Once you’ve missed one shorty in a pressure situation, your mind goes haywire.

That’s exactly what seemed to happen on the second miss. It was a relatively tough putt given the length, but this is just a terrible stroke.

Rory does hit a lot of putts a little higher on the face than a lot of players, but there’s no way he wanted to hit it that high on the face. That’s just a terrible stroke.

Rory was pretty upset about his collapse, understandably. He stormed off the property just minutes after DeChambeau, who was in the group behind McIlroy, made his winning putt. That’s the kind of loss that’s going to take some time to get over.

And, at this point, he has to be wondering if he has what it takes to win a major again. Since his four major wins early in his career from 2011-2014, Rory McIlroy has had a string of near-misses in majors. A player of his caliber probably should’ve gotten across the finish line in one of those close calls.

He will try to get over the hump in majors at next month’s Open Championship at Royal Troon.