How will Rory McIlroy bounce back from devastating loss at Pinehurst?

What could McIlroy have said on Sunday after missing two putts inside four feet on the last three holes and bogeying three of the last four to open the door for Bryson DeChambeau to walk through for his second U.S. Open win?

Maybe he couldn’t speak at all, which would have been completely understandable. He could have stood at the podium and simply cried and the world would have understood. Or maybe he could have addressed the misery of his defeat straight off, the way he did at Augusta National as a 21-year-old who melted with a three-shot lead at the turn on the final nine. He responded immediately and handsomely with his first major triumph two months later in the U.S. Open at Congressional.

The truth is, this will probably be his toughest near-miss in a major championship to swallow – and he’s had to swallow more than his share. He didn’t do much wrong in 2022 at St. Andrews or 2023 at Los Angeles Country Club, just not quite enough stuff went right for him those Sundays when Cam Smith and Wyndham Clark pipped him.

This one revealed that the elephant in the room of Rory’s mental strength on the major stages is in fact quite real. There’s a reason these are the hardest events in golf to win, and the longer McIlroy goes without winning one the harder it gets.

His performance through 13 holes on Sunday was exemplary as he chased DeChambeau off the first tee and turned a three-shot deficit into a two-shot lead. But as soon as the onus fell on him to play with the lead, his pace and confidence seemed to falter.

Needing only pars to stay in front and turn up the heat on DeChambeau to try to catch him, McIlroy’s nerves were revealed. He bogeyed the difficult par-3 15th for third consecutive day, blasting his iron long over the back when even laying up short would have been the easier play for par.

But when DeChambeau gave him the lead back missing a 4-footer of his own to three-putt 15, McIlroy couldn’t slam the door. He lipped out from two-and-a-half feet on 16 and made a nervy bunker save on 17.

After hitting driver instead of 3-wood into a bad lie behind a tuft of wiregrass in the native area on 18, McIlroy did the hard work to give himself a putt just under 4 feet to save par on 18 and put all the pressure on DeChambeau, who was in trouble under a tree behind him. His slippery putt never had a chance.

“I think it would have been a whole different scenario if Rory had made his putt on 18,” said McGinley, “and Bryson had to get up and down on 18 to get into a playoff.

“That would have flipped the pressure onto Bryson. He had a free run with that bunker shot. I know it was great. I know it was well executed. But it wasn't the most difficult shot when you knew that a five was going to be a playoff.

McGinley heralded DeChambeau’s relentlessness and gumption even when his game wavered.

“Whereas Rory, like I've been saying all week, it's not about the talent, it comes down to a drop in focus,” McGinley said. “And through 13 holes he was on it. He was exactly where you wanted to be. And that element of doubt came in. He started second-guessing himself; he started backing off shots, which he never does.

“He started having an extra couple of looks down the fairway before he took the club back. He started having an extra little bit of time over the putts, which he never does. That's pressure. That's what it does to you. And, ultimately, he succumbed to it.

“And, you know, I think Bryson can't believe his luck at the end of the day and that it's panned out the way it has for him. But a door was open and he walked through.” 

Maybe one day soon, the door will open wide at another major for Rory McIlroy. It may need to be much wider than the one he crashed into Sunday.