TROON, Scotland – Over the past week, Rory McIlroy has tried to describe, in intimate detail, what those first few days were like after blowing the U.S. Open, press conferences that, at times, have felt more like group therapy sessions.
How by the time McIlroy walked through the front door that Sunday he already had received about 15 texts from media members, seeking comment after he sped out of Pinehurst – a sign, he said later, that it was time for him to change his phone number.
How he strolled Manhattan’s High Line, AirPods in, moving about almost anonymously amid the hustle and bustle of America’s busiest city – a nice perspective to keep, he said, that “no one gave a s--t if I missed the putt at Pinehurst.”
And how, over the course of 96 hours, he progressed from dejection to understanding to enthusiasm – not the five stages of grief, per se, but understandable nonetheless.
“It’s funny how your mindset can go from I-don’t-want-to-see-a-golf-course-for-a-month to, like, four days later, I can’t wait to get another shot at it,” McIlroy said Tuesday. “When that disappointment turns to motivation, that’s when it’s time to go again.”
And that time has arrived here at Royal Troon as McIlroy tries to display all that he’s learned in what will be his final shot at redemption for nine long months.
Sure, technically, McIlroy returned to competition last week at the Scottish Open, where he recorded another top-5 finish. It was a performance that reinforced a few things about him: That his long game remains in top form, as once again he led the field from tee to green; that he needs to spend more time on and around the greens, refamiliarizing himself with the slower green speeds and unique fescue grasses of links golf; and that he’s more resilient than often given credit for.
As tempting as it was to declare in the moment, the Pinehurst Open wasn’t actually McIlroy’s most crushing defeat. At least not to him. That was the 2011 Masters, where he held a four-shot lead and shot a Sunday 80. Or maybe it was the 2022 Open, when he hit every green in the final round but made just two birdies to fall short at the home of golf.
Those results would have broken lesser players. Instead, both times, he bounced back – quickly. Two months after his collapse at Augusta, he won his first major in a rout at Congressional. And a month after crying on his wife’s shoulder at the Old Course, he stormed back to win a third FedExCup title.
Over the past 15 years, and in multiple ways, he has proven his durability.
“Look, it was a great opportunity,” he said last week. “It passed me by. But hopefully when I get that next opportunity, it won’t pass me by.”
This week he is installed, correctly, as the tournament’s second-leading favorite, behind only world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. That’s a nod to McIlroy’s recent record, but also his Open résumé: six top-6s in his past eight starts. One of those came right here at Royal Troon, in 2016, when he contended fiercely for the B-flight title (16 shots adrift of Henrik Stenson, but in a tie for fifth). That was in the early stages of a five-year period that’s defined mostly by how few realistic chances he gave himself to add to his major haul in his athletic prime. Over the past three major season he has been far more competitive – and he’ll take that tradeoff, even if it offers more chances for devastation.
“It means that I’m getting closer,” he said.
Never closer, in fact.
Upon reflection – in Manhattan, at home, in the air en route to Scotland – McIlroy has voiced the lessons learned from his latest major mishap. That he got out of his own head space too much and focused on Bryson DeChambeau’s back-nine charge. That he wants to enjoy his life and success more, after being reminded, sadly, that he hadn’t taken a proper family vacation in nearly five years. That he needed to “create a bit of space” with his changed number, weeding out those who only wanted something from him.
It’s alone time that he found “liberating.” It’s perspective that he had but briefly forgot. And it explains how, after all these years, he’s ready and willing to potentially get his heart broken all over again.
Because the payoff is worth it.