STUMP STORY OF THE DAY
Golf Is Hard: Rory McIlroy Edition
After a tough ending to the U.S. Open for Rory, he has withdrawn from this week’s Travelers Championship.
There’s not a whole lot of absolutes in sports, but the one thing that is for sure…
There are ups. And there are downs.
This past week we had one of this year’s golf ‘Majors’ with the U.S. Open. Bryson DeChambeau was the champion and it was awesome to see. I was not mad for a second that he hoisted the trophy. But what I will say is that the miss heard around the world by Rory McIlroy on the 18th and final hole was absolutely heart-aching.
Rory is one of the best golfers in the world and has been for quite some time. He was the vocal leader of the PGA when golfers started to migrate to rival league LIV. He always seems to say the right thing on the podium and it’s hard to dislike the guy. But man when Major championships are on the line, it has just been a series of unfortunate events for the last 10 years. His last major championship was the 2014 PGA Championship, and since then he’s had 11 top-5 finishes.
This past week was the latest edition of the saga. With 5 holes to play, Rory seemingly out of nowhere had a two-shot lead over Bryson and was in the solo lead at a major. He was steady for 67 holes across 4 days and found himself in a prime position to break the hex. I won’t harp on what happened next for too long but he bogeyed 3 of his 4 holes and missed a 4 footer to send the tournament into a playoff.
Seeing him in the back room watching Bryson hit his final putt for the win was tough. He looked like a guy who couldn’t believe what had just happened. He has withdrawn from this week’s tournament and despite declining an interview on Sunday afternoon, the PGA world has rallied around him.
Former major champion Justin Rose and fellow Brit had this to say, “You are going to have moments like that. He has probably had a few of late, but the good days, he has had plenty of them, too.“
The Rory roars all Sunday were about as loud as any others out there, and to see this happen to him again was absolutely brutal. Yesterday he went to X to share that he’s taking a couple of weeks off to reflect on everything.
This being said, he did say that he will back to defend his title of the Genesis Scottish Open and then will be at The Open (next major) as well!
I think it’s safe to say his next Major win will be the most satisfying win since Tiger at the Masters in 2019! Rooting for you Rory, see you back out there soon!
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