SOUTHAMPTON, New York — Rory McIlroy made the turn at the U.S. Open on Saturday in a tie for third place and four shots behind leader Wyndham Clark.
But McIlroy then shot 40 on the back nine in the third round, followed by a 39 on the front nine on Sunday. He closed it out by going 1 under on the last nine holes, finishing at 6 over and outside the top 20.
It’s his worst result at the U.S. Open since 2018, the last time Shinnecock hosted, when he started with an 80 and missed the cut.
McIlroy, the 2011 U.S. Open champ, finished in the top 10 six straight years from 2019-24, including runner-up finishes in 2023 and 2024.
McIlroy was asked after Sunday’s round to sum up the week at Shinnecock.
“I think it won the battle over me at this point,” he said. “I think looking back on the entire week, I’ll obviously rue the back nine yesterday. I got myself to 2-under par for the tournament after nine yesterday, and then the wheels came off and played a really bad back nine. I sort of shot myself out of the tournament then.”
There’s little left for McIlroy to achieve after completing the career Grand Slam in 2024.
But this week, he could have notched two significant marks: winning a U.S. Open at a traditional venue (McIlroy has said that’s a goal) and tying Harry Vardon, an Englishman from the turn of the 20th Century, for the record of seven majors won by a European (he wants to be known as the best European ever).
The quest for the former moves to Pebble Beach next June. The latter to Royal Birkdale next month.
“I’ll be playing some links golf this week probably coming up,” McIlroy said. “It’s my favorite time of the year to go back home and play the Open, and I get to spend a bit of time back there. This was not too dissimilar to an Open Championship in terms of how the golf course started to play over the weekend, but a bit of links golf over the next couple weeks will be nice.”
