Rory McIlroy: I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get hands on another major

This one hurt, as did the last one. His putter turned cold on both occasions. But Rory McIlroy is prepared to keep picking himself up off the canvas in order to give himself chances to become a major winner again.

Rory McIlroy reacts to coming up just short in the 123rd US Open at The Los Angeles Country Club. PIcture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images.

As happened in last year’s 150th Open at St Andrews, McIlroy couldn’t buy a putt in the final round of the 123rd US Open as he ended up being pipped by Wyndham Clark at The Los Angeles Country Club.

It means that McIlroy finds himself returning to Royal Liverpool next month for The Open still stuck on the same total as he reached when winning his fourth major in the last edition of the Claret Jug event at the Merseyside venue in 2014.

“It is,” he replied to being asked if he finds it exhausting being asked how he deals with the disappointment of now having gone 33 consecutive majors without a victory.

“But, at the same time, when I do finally win this next major, it's going to be really, really sweet. I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship.”

The 34-year-old’s 271 total is the lowest in the history of the US Open by a player who didn’t win. The 59 greens he hit over the four days was also the most by a player who didn’t come out on top in the USGA event.

The reason he didn’t win was down to a combination of only being able to muster one birdie in the closing circuit and Clark handling by far the biggest test of his career way better than anyone expected.

“There were a couple of things that I probably would have done differently, but all in all, I played a solid round of golf,” said McIlroy, referring to a missed birdie putt at the eighth then coming up short with a wedge from 125 yards at the 14th, where he ran up a bogey-6.

“Apart from that, I did everything else the way I wanted to,” he added. “I fought to the very end. And I'm getting closer. The more I keep putting myself in these positions, sooner or later it's going to happen for me. Just got to regroup and get focused for Hoylake in a few weeks' time.”

He’s playing in the Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour this week before heading to The Renaissance Club for the Genesis Scottish Open the week before The Open.

“Three minutes ago, I guess,” he replied to being asked when his countdown would start for the season’s final major. “I'm focused on making sure that I'm ready to go for Liverpool.”

Clark will be making his Open debut on Merseyside, having already secured his spot at Hoylake when landing a maiden PGA Tour win in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow early last month.

“Winning Wells was huge for me because I had some people telling me in my ear, they're like, ‘hey, what if something greater is going to happen, what if it's you losing this means something better is going to happen and you learn from it. I think that was one of the first times, and especially after Wells, I said, okay, you know what? I believe that.

"I honestly think I should have won the Memorial Tournament just a few weeks ago, and Viktor [Hovland] played great, but I was right there in contention and had a chance and kind of fumbled at the end.

“In the back of my mind I said, well, ‘what if this is saving me for something greater’. Obviously I didn't know it was going to be a US Open, but I just had that attitude and belief that something better was going to happen. Yeah, it did.”

Clark's mum, Lise, died of breast cancer when aged 54 in 2013, telling her son before she passed that she wanted him to 'play big', a mantra Clark, a 29-year-old from Denver but now based in Arizona, said has stuck with him ever since.

"I just felt like my mum was watching over me today," he said after clinching his one-shot victory. "She can't be here - I miss you mum - but I just feel like I've worked so hard and dreamed about this moment for so long. There's been so many times I've visualised about being here in front of you guys and winning this championship. I just feel like it was my time."

Having been 163rd in the Official World Golf Ranking at the end of last year, Clark is now up to 13th, having jumped 32 spots on the back of this effort. “You know, I feel like I belong on this stage, and even two, three years ago when people didn't know who I was, I felt like I could still play and compete against the best players in the world. I felt like I've shown that this year,” he said.

“Obviously everyone sees the person that hoists the trophy, but I've been trending in the right direction for a long time now. I've made a lot of cuts. I've had a handful of top 10s and top 20s, and I feel like I've been on a great trajectory to get to this place.

“Obviously it's gone faster than I thought as far as just starting to do some stuff mentally that I've never done before, but I feel like I'm one of the best players in the world. Obviously this just shows what I believe can happen.

But, at the same time I'm a pretty humble, calm guy, and I don't try to get too high or too low on things. I'm obviously going to celebrate this, but I like to compete. I'm so competitive. I want to beat everybody but also be friends with everybody. So I try to have a good mix of that.”