Rory McIlroy turned the final round into a victory lap around Congressional Country Club. Every hole brought a standing ovation. Each swing jubilation. The young Irishman showed his appreciation by steadily waving and tipping his cap to the gallery.
There was a modest fist pump, a gleeful smile after tapping in his final shot. Bear hugs from his father and fellow countryman Graeme McDowell. A flag was thrown to McIlroy as he walked to sign his scorecard. A chaste kiss greeted the trophy.
There was no drama at the U.S. Open on Sunday. Just an old-fashioned great outing.
“I was trying to go out and make no mistakes and not let anyone match me,” McIlroy said. “There’s a lot of joy with this victory and relief. More joy.”
Maybe McIlroy’s Masters meltdown is now a distant memory. That harsh lesson taught him a few things.
“I knew what I needed to do today to win,” he said while declining to elaborate.
McIlroy’s record-breaking 16 under to win the U.S. Open by eight strokes will prove legendary. Decades from now fans will debate whether this Open was a fluke with 19 finishers under par at a renowned long course tamed not just by McIlroy but by rain that left generous greens rather than the glassy Open norm.
“If the course was firm and hard, I don’t think anyone could have gone 16 under,” McIlroy said. “[The course] felt like it suited me fine.”
Conditions allowed McIlroy to take a conservative but nearly flawless approach to the final round. He kept leaving putts short for pars, a strategy that led to his bogeys on Nos. 12 and 17. Yet McIlroy never carried over one bad shot to the next. He even rallied from a bunker to net a birdie on No. 16.
McIlroy’s only gamble was a low drive over the water at No. 6 that cleared by a foot. Otherwise, he stayed in the fairways, reached the greens in two and putted for par. After nearly getting a hole-in-one on No. 10, McIlroy knew he “had to do something pretty bad to lose it.”
Nobody wanted to see McIlroy blow his second straight major, which might have turned the 22-year-old’s career into a trivia question. Many athletes have been broken by less.
McIlroy is supposed to be the next Tiger Woods in a sea of promising 20-somethings who have combined to win five straight majors. He’s a fresh face who needs a haircut to tame his curls. There’s something friendly about McIlroy that made fans root for a foreigner in a U.S. national championship.
Americans might see McIlroy a little more often, the Europeans a little less. A U.S. Open victory means “I might have to” play more on the PGA Tour.
Fans who chanted McIlroy’s name all afternoon roared in approval. The young star smiled and thanked the crowd once more before melting into well wishers … and history.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].
