Reliving Rory McIlroy's emotional collapse in the last Open at Royal Portrush

Telegraph

4 days ago

The year was 2019. After a 68-year gap, the R&A took the Open back to Royal Portrush. The influence of major winners from Northern Ireland such as Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell was viewed as crucial in the decision.
What followed was an incredibly emotional and fascinating run for McIlroy as he gave himself a mountain to climb in the first round, only to shoot his lights out the next day, agonisingly missing the cut by a shot.
This is how it will be remembered.
The build-up
Having shot a course-record 61 on the Dunluce Links as a 16-year-old, McIlroy is installed as the favourite.
'As soon as it was announced, the first thought was 'Rory'. Even I thought that – and it's my town! Yeah, I'd won a US Open and Darren [Clarke] who lived in Portrush had won the Claret Jug in 2011 and there was Padraig [Harrington, the three-time major winner from Dublin] there as well.
'But Rory wasn't just a four-time winner playing a major in his homeland – he'd shot that 61 as a 16-year-old. So naturally, the spotlight was going to be most on him. I saw him in the days before and he seemed very composed, if a bit quiet for him. I couldn't see him not contending. To my mind, he was the clear choice to win it.'
'When Rory came into the media centre for his pre-tournament interview, every seat was taken. It was the first time and maybe only time that I've seen Rory, or any golfer, have more journalists in an interview room than Tiger Woods. That says it all.
'Rory seemed ready enough, although I do remember thinking that the pressure must have been way over the top. Everywhere you went in the town, everyone was talking about Rory. I popped into a chippy and there were pictures of him all over the walls and one coffee chop was selling Rory Macachinos.'
'It was obviously the biggest sports event ever in Northern Ireland and the demand for tickets was incredible. Because of my connection with the place – I'd held the course record, having taken it off Padraig with a 64, before Rory shot that 61 – I was getting loads of requests [for tickets]. I had a job to get one for myself. Everyone wanted to be there. The tickets were going for thousands. It was Rorymania, all right.'
The first day
McIlroy is partnered with England's Paul Casey and the American Gary Woodland, who the month before had won the US Open. The trio went out at 10.09am.
'When we saw the draw on the Tuesday, we thought 'oh boy, this will be lively'. And the atmosphere was incredible. Darren [Clarke] had hit the first tee shot at about 6.30am and the crowd was pumped. Walking to the first tee… well, I can best sum it up by saying it was Ryder Cuppy. But Rory seemed very nervous. He kept taking practice swings and was clearly jumpy. He was pacing around, couldn't get settled. I said so to Paul. 'He needs to calm down and focus'. Seeing him like that, I wasn't surprised about what happened next.'
'I can't imagine what it was like for Darren. G-Mac [McDowell] wasn't that far ahead of us and I could hear the roar. But with Rory – it was a moment in golf history right there. I was trying to concentrate on myself, but it was very, very loud. I was surprised by what happened. He had a two-iron and struggled with that club.'
'Harry [Diamond, his caddie] was relatively new on the bag. There was a right-to-left wind and there was out-of-bounds on the left as well as on the right. If I were on his bag, I would have given him a really small target and said, 'just keep looking at that, nothing else, and ignore the rest'. And I'd have been really close by and kept talking the whole time about what we're going to do. It was not an easy tee shot as there was a right-to-left wind and that out-of-bounds on the left.'
'I'd been there since the Friday and did not know there was out-of-bounds on the left.'
'We were all a bit confused by that. Internal out-of-bounds is never great. Apparently that patch of ground used to be a field owned by a farmer with cows on it. The club later bought it but to stay faithful to the original layout, they put white stakes there. It seemed odd. And that day, there was a right-to-left wind, so the fairway was half the width. It didn't take much of a tug to go OB. I'm glad I didn't know it was there.'
'He had waited his whole life to hit that tee shot and to see it sailing left, that was tough. I was deflated for him, the crowd was deflated. You had to feel for him.'
'I was waiting down the fairway but my colleagues on the tee told me Rory started saying 'sit, sit, sit…' as soon as he'd hit that two-iron. I think he said 'sit' six times. He knew. There were discernible gasps. It hit a woman on the stomach and it smashed her phone. She was OK. But Rory had to reload and take three off the tee. The next one went in the thick rough. From there he hacked into more rough, where he had to take an unplayable lie. So he was six on the green and the dreaded snowman – the quadruple-bogey eight – was inevitable.'
Nightmare start for Rory McIlroy 😲
After going out of bounds off the tee, the favourite makes +4 on the opening hole
📺 Watch all four days of #TheOpen live on Sky Sports The Open or follow it here: https://t.co/PiRMXkYPcE pic.twitter.com/z8eeu0BxRB
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) July 18, 2019
'At this stage you're just trying not to look and concentrating on your own man. It was extraordinary, though. Like I said, I wasn't too shocked, as Rory is quite prone to nerves, otherwise he'd have probably won a lot more majors really. That's where he differs to Tiger. He gets hyped up.'
'I kept away from him. He knows what to do.'
'In those mad 15 minutes, Rory went from the 6-1 favourite to 33-1. It's golf, things don't happen quickly And at the start of a round, on the very first hole, that wild fluctuation of odds had not occurred before or since.'
'I was down there and the mood was just one of shock. I mean, the balloon hadn't just been punctured, it had been flattened. We all tried to launch into shouts of 'c'mon, Rors'. But at best it was half-hearted. We were already in a form of grieving. It didn't help when he bogeyed the third.'
'As often happens, particularly with a natural player like Rory, a mini-disaster like that eventually frees them up and Rory, with nothing to lose, started to play well. But a few birdies later and the pressure drops again.'
'He played the fourth to the 15th in two-under par and was only three over. He was far from out of it. It had been a nice comeback. But the 16th killed him. He was so gutted to miss his putt for par, he just flicked the one back and missed that as well. The air went out of the sails. He had been trying so hard until that moment. The fans were devastated. And I looked around and saw so many of my fellow media members inside the ropes and hunched around the green and thought 'this is claustrophobic'.'
'He doubled [double-bogeyed] the last didn't he? I said 'what would I prefer, a quadruple-bogey eight at the first or a triple-bogey seven on the 18th?' He did both. Brutal.'
'He fronted up afterwards. Said it was 'inexcusable' and said 'I want to punch myself in the face'. He wowed to fight to make the cut, but the way the narrative works is that the circus goes on. Of course, Rory was of interest on the Friday, but the storyline had well and truly been burst. A 79. He was eight over and 150th in a 156-man field. Nobody envisioned that.'
The second day
McIlroy, together with Casey (one-over) and Woodland (three-over) went out at 3.10pm
'We all know Rory would have to go really low. Shoot a 63 or something. But he'd shot a 61 as a kid, so we all knew it was possible. We just wanted to watch him to be honest. He then put on an amazing show. Birdie after birdie, really responding and interacting with the crowd.'
'It was the most electric Friday atmosphere I've seen in my time on Tour. It was a crazy change in emotion from Thursday to Friday.'
'Yeah, when Rory is in full-flight it is great to watch. But the pressure was off and he is known for a surge once he's already made his train smash. The crowd were obviously really behind him. Have not heard roars like that simply for someone trying to make the cut.'
'Rory was emotional afterwards, talking about how he had reconnected with the public in that 65. It was good stuff, but in the cold light of the day he had come up a shot short. Everyone had jumped on the Shane Lowry train by then.'
"This was a week that I'd been looking forward to for a long time." 😪
An emotional Rory McIlroy speaks to Sky Sports after seemingly missing the cut at #TheOpen, despite shooting a second-round 65 at Royal Portrush. ⛳
Watch The Open Verdict live on Sky Sports The Open now! pic.twitter.com/xfszO4Do7h
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) July 19, 2019
The postscript
McIlroy held back the tears as he processed he was out, and all eyes switched to Lowry – who roared ahead to finish six shots clear of Tommy Fleetwood, at 15-under.
'It proved to be a big party anyway, as Shane did it for Ireland. Great day, great night. Portrush rocked. As for Rory, the word went round that he had passed Harry the two-iron he'd put in and said 'do what you want with this'. Harry gave it to his father-in-law, Richard Nicholas, a well-known surgeon in Belfast, who is a Portrush member.
'Apparently, Richard offered a few of his mates to have a go with it, but some refused because they thought it might be cursed. 'Well, if it did that to Rory, then there must be something weird going on…' But he has it under lock and key now. A prized possession. As it should be. It's a hell of a memento from an unforgettable week.'