Rory McIlroy fades fast as Oakmont brings best to their knees

Times

20 hours ago

For a couple of hours all the talk of Oakmont's terrors seemed overstated and this near mythical beast by the Allegheny River looked about as dangerous as a stuffed fish on a marble plinth. The reputation has been well-earned, though, and by the end of the first day at a sun-baked US Open, players were using words like brutal and bloodbath, and Rory McIlroy's promising start had faded into more anti-climax. After a bogey-free first nine, he dropped six shots, finished at four over par and was not in the mood for discussing it afterwards.
The frustration was palpable as he again walked past journalists shaking his head. For the fifth consecutive round at the majors, the man who inspired post-Augusta paeans had scribes sheathing their pens. Scottie Scheffler was just starting out on his own troubled path at that point, and JJ Spaun was talking into a camera after setting the clubhouse lead with a round of 66, some eight shots clear of McIlroy.
It was very much a round of two halves for McIlroy. After all the talk about having to replace his 'non-conforming' driver at last month's US PGA Championship and his own questions about motivation, he began with the requisite calm and control. Playing the easier back nine first, he was able to open with an iron off the tee and on his third felt able to bludgeon a 392-yard drive down the middle. The ensuing eagle chance went awry but he was two under in three holes. The toughest course in the world? Pah.
But as the day lengthened, that 'ugly old brute' of a course got under the skin and scraped the scabbing from weakness. Tiger Woods had warned that there is no faking it here, and it duly provided a true test of technique, strategy and psyche.
It is a course where you need to make putts from inside ten feet to stay afloat and, significantly, McIlroy missed three from within seven feet after the turn. And then came his penultimate hole, the much-vaunted long par-three measuring 279 yards and due to get longer. He missed the green right and needed two swipes to get out of the dense rough. That double bogey was the final blight on a day of dwindling promise.
One of the keys to winning here is damage limitation and the 4th hole, McIlroy's 13th, was a little odyssey. It took some time to locate his ball and, deep in trouble, McIlroy ignored caddie Harry Diamond's suggestion to take a drop. He could only hack his ball some 20 yards forward and the next shot was even worse, his relatively serene progress in danger of unravelling in one, disastrous hole. In fairness to McIlroy, he then managed to get up and down from 180 yards for what was a bonus bogey, but he had started to creak.
It will be no consolation that he was better than his playing partners. Shane Lowry, who started the final round of the 2016 US Open here four shots clear, was nine over, despite an eagle from 160 yards, and Justin Rose was only two shots better. It meant a trio with a combined seven majors finished at a collective 20 over par. Pretty beastly, that.
Although 23 of the past 24 US Open winners have been within four shots of the lead after the opening round, McIlroy was in good company in the trauma ward. Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick were among those on the same score, while Gary Woodland, the 2019 champion, was another whose flying start segued into an Icarus descent after six dropped shots in six holes. Bryson DeChambeau, the defending champion, was alongside him at three over par after struggling with his putter, but predicted that could be the winning score if the rain holds off over the ­weekend.
The sun and breeze sapped the course of any lingering moisture, and anyone finishing under par had cause for a panoramic smile. Bob MacIntyre, the pride of Oban, was one of those ­delighted to walk away at even par. 'You shoot four level-par rounds, you're walking away with a medal and a trophy,' he said. 'That's up there in the top ten rounds I've played. It's just so hard. Honestly, every shot you're on a knife edge. I felt I played beautifully and I drove it as good as I can drive the golf ball.' His excitement with a 70 shows the scale of this challenge.
Belgium's Ryder Cup hopeful Thomas Detry, one of the select bunch in the red numbers, warned that it could even become 'a bloodbath' if the wind starts to blow harder.
The rough is part of it, but the speed and slopes of the greens provide a potent combination. So Spaun deserved huge credit, as did Thriston Lawrence who was only a shot behind with Kim Si-woo , another stroke adrift. Spaun, beaten by McIlroy in the play-off at The Players in March, chipped in for a birdie on his opening hole and that set the tone for a scrambling round. 'I rode that momentum through the day,' he said.
As for McIlroy, he does not need to rewind very far for proof that he can overcome first-round deflation. At the Masters he was written off by many after making two double bogeys down the first-round stretch. Opportunities for salvage streaks are scarcer at Oakmont, though, and his first task is to make the cut. Failure to do so would spawn more enquiries about how he can rekindle his fire after achieving his career goal. Even Scheffler said the post-major comedown last month left him feeling like he had been hit by a bus due to the heightened emotion. He probably felt something similar after a string of early bogeys had him fighting fire and rarely-seen foible. Patrick Reed was another suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune with his 286-yard albatross from the fourth fairway straddled by bogeys.
For all the suspicion that McIlroy needs time to regather his mojo, he hates the thought that anyone might think he is not up for golf's hardest tests and, indeed, after three missed cuts at the US Open, he has not been out of the top ten for six years.
But Oakmont is tougher than the rest. John Bodenhamer, the USGA's chief championships officer, said with a tinge of sadism that part of the place's appeal is psychological. 'Oakmont is relentless,' he said. 'It's a grind and there are limited opportunities to catch up when you are behind.' They will all try to keep on hanging on today.