Brooke Pryor
OAKMONT, Pa. — By the standard he set Saturday afternoon, Rory McIlroy accomplished two goals in Sunday’s championship round at the U.S. Open.
First, he finished his final round in under 4½ hours — four hours and nine minutes, to be exact. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly to the world’s No. 2-ranked golfer, now he gets to go home.
An apathetic McIlroy told the media those were his hopes for the final round after shooting a 74 in the third round at Oakmont on Saturday. And though he played better Sunday with 3-under 67, that he was done being manhandled by the treacherous course was a relief.
“I’m looking forward to just getting back to Europe in general,” he said Sunday. “Obviously I’ve got one more week over here. Play Hartford next week. … We’ve got a lot to look forward to, got our new house in London, play the Scottish and then obviously The Open at Portrush.”
Since winning the Masters earlier this spring to finally complete a long-awaited career Grand Slam, McIlroy has played uninspired golf as he missed the cut at the RBC Canadian Open last week and finished well back in the PGA Championship. His showing at the 125th U.S. Open was more of the same.
“Look, I climbed my Everest in April, and I think after you do something like that, you’ve got to make your way back down, and you’ve got to look for another mountain to climb,” he said. “An Open at Portrush is certainly one of those.”
For McIlroy, who missed the cut when The Open Championship was last played at Portrush in 2019, next month’s tournament played in front of his countrymen is an opportunity to sync his mental game with his physical game.
“I didn’t realize how emotional I was going to be at Portrush,” McIlroy said of 2019. “I think that was a thing I was unprepared for more than anything else. I remember I hit a shot into 12 or 13 Friday night obviously trying to make the cut. I remember the roar I got when the ball hit the green, and I felt like I was about to burst into tears. Just that support and that love from your own people.
“… I need to just get myself in the right frame of mind to feel those feelings again.”
While he said Sunday his physical game is “there,” McIlroy acknowledged he’s fallen short mentally since winning the Masters. The 36-year-old’s frustration was palpable throughout the U.S. Open. Friday, he threw a club and destroyed a tee marker. Then, despite a 3-under 67 showing Sunday, he threw another club. This time, the club bounced off the turf, and he snagged it with his left hand as it boomeranged back to him.
“If I can’t get motivated to get up for an Open Championship at home, then I don’t know what can motivate me,” he said. “I just need to get myself in the right frame of mind. I probably haven’t been there the last few weeks.
“Getting home and having a couple weeks off before that, hopefully feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, will get me in the right place again.”
McIlroy has a little less than a month until he plays at Portrush, but he regained some momentum with a solid final round at Oakmont on Sunday.
He carded six birdies and just three bogeys in the championship round. He had just seven birdies total in his three previous rounds. He drove it an average of 321.5 yards in the fourth round, and he finished the tournament leading the field with 330.3 average yards per drive.
“I feel like I’ve driven the ball well all week,” he said. “After the way I drove it today, I’d say I finished in the top five in strokes gained off the tee. Really encouraged with the driver and how I drove it, as well. It’s not necessarily the driver, it’s more me and sort of where my swing was. I feel like I got a really good feeling in my swing with the driver, which was great. Hopefully I can continue that on into next week.
“… Physically I feel like my game’s there. It’s just mentally getting myself in the right frame of mind to get the best out of myself.”
