A shell-shocked Rory McIlroy left Pinehurst immediately after a humiliating collapse in the closing holes of the US Open saw another major title agonizingly slip through his fingers.
With the tournament at his mercy and leading by two strokes with five holes left, McIlroy collapsed late with bogeys on three of his final four holes, including a heartbreaker on the 18th.
Remarkably, the Northern Irishman missed two feet six inches for par on the 16th and less than four feet on the 18th to suffer another heartbreaking end to his 10-year quest for a fifth Major.
McIlroy did not stay to speak to the media and was photographed by golf journalist Jason Sobel storing his clubs in a car after Bryson DeChambeau secured the victory.
NBC, the tournament’s US broadcaster, also said McIlroy declined to be interviewed.
Rory McIlroy was a picture of devastation after blowing the US Open on Sunday
Video also emerged of a devastated McIlroy watching DeChambeau achieve glory in the clubhouse. It was an ending that could well be considered more painful than the implosion of the 2011 Masters.
But that will be decided by analysts in the coming days. When DeChambeau got the trophy, McIlroy’s tires skidded on the gravel in the parking lot as he fled to lick his wounds.
It marks a disastrous end to another extraordinary week for McIlroy, who on Tuesday night announced he was calling off his divorce from wife Erica.
In a court filing on May 13, days before the PGA Championship in Valhalla, his attorney had said the marriage was irretrievably broken.
“There have been rumors about my personal life recently, which is unfortunate,” McIlroy said in the statement. ‘Responding to every rumor is nonsense. Over the past few weeks, Erica and I realized that our best future was to be a united family. Fortunately, we have resolved our differences and look forward to a new beginning.”
But for much of Sunday’s final round, it looked like McIlroy was going to write a fairytale ending to such a tumultuous chapter in his life.
Starting the day three shots behind DeChambeau, McIlroy made the ideal start with a birdie from 20 feet on the first and found himself just one shot behind when DeChambeau made bogey on the fourth.
McIlroy was two strokes ahead as he walked to the 14th tee. The ‘Rory’ chants grew louder and DeChambeau could hear them.
McIlroy was photographed walking off the 18th green in shock after missing an easy second putt.
McIlroy’s week began when he called off his divorce from his wife of seven years, Erica Stoll.
But the manner of his implosion on Sunday will leave McIlroy still feeling heartbroken.
McIlroy made bogey from behind the 15th green, but stayed one ahead when DeChambeau, playing in the group behind him, made his first three putts of the week on the 15th when he missed from 4 feet.
And that’s where the US Open took an agonizing turn for McIlroy. He missed a 30-inch par putt on the 16th hole and tied it again. On the 18th, McIlroy’s tee shot landed behind a famous wire bush. He flew close to the green and pitched beautifully to 4 feet. And he failed again.
McIlroy was watching from the scoring room as DeChambeau escaped a horrible lie to the left of the fairway (a tree in his backswing, a root in front of the golf ball) and hit it into the bunker.
He expertly launched a shot from the soft sand that rolled onto the crunchy green to set up the winning putt.
And from there, Rory could do nothing but pack her bags.