Rory McIlroy sends 'see you in Scotland' message after US Open heartbreak

Rory McIlroy reacts after finishing the 18th hole during the final round of the 124th US Open at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina. Picture: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.

Rory McIlroy’s Genesis Scottish Open title defence at The Renaissance Club next month will now be his first appearance after letting a golden opportunity to end a ten-year major drought slip from his grasp.

As he came to terms with a heart-breaking finish for him in the 124th US Open at Pinehurst on Sunday, when two missed short putts in the final three holes saw him lose by a shot to Bryson DeChambeau, McIlroy announced that he’d decided to skip this week’s Travelers Championship, one of the PGA Tour’s $20 million signature events, in Connecticut.

“Yesterday was a tough day, probably the toughest I’ve had in my nearly 17 years as a professional golfer,” admitted the Northern Irishman, who’d turned a three-shot overnight deficit into a two-shot lead coming down the closing stretch in the season’s third major in North Carolina, in a post on social media on Monday night. “Firstly, I’d like to congratulate Bryson. He is a worthy champion and exactly what professional golf needs right now. I think we can all agree on that.

Colin Montgomerie, who is an ambassador for Loch Lomond Whiskies, is interested to see how Rory McIlroy now performs in both the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open.

“As I reflect on my week, I’ll rue a few things over the course of the tournament, mostly the two missed putts (both from inside three feet and the first ones he’d missed from that distance this season) on 16 and 18 on the final day. But, as I always do, I’ll look at the positives of the week that far outweigh the negatives. As I said at the start of the tournament, I feel closer to winning my next major championship than I ever have.

"The one word I would describe my career as is resilient. I’ve shown my resilience over and over again in the last 17 years and I will again. I’m going to take a few weeks away from the game to process everything and build myself back up for my defence of the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open at Royal Troon. See you in Scotland.”

McIlroy finished birdie-birdie at The Renaissance Club last year to pip home star Bob MacIntyre in the Rolex Series event, landing his first victory on Scottish soil in the process. He’ll spearhead a field for what is the opening tournament on the DP World Tour’s new ‘Closing Swing’ on this occasion along with PGA champion Xander Schauffele.

“It will be interesting to see how he now gets on in the Scottish Open and The Open,” observed Colin Montgomerie, who suffered similar heartbreak in the US Open in 2006, when the Scot, bidding to land an elusive first major, slipped up at the final hole at Winged Foot with a 7-iron in his hand from the middle of the fairway.

“I was sad for Rory on Sunday night, I really felt for him and we all did, I think,” added Montgomerie. “This has been ten years and I think it affected him coming down those last four holes. You saw Bryson being extrovert on the course. He was punching the air and doing his Payne Stewart and Tiger Woods bit. Rory, in contrast, was very much within himself, even when he birdied. There wasn’t that effervescent Rory we’ve often seen. He was cool, calm and collected until the last few holes, when it seemed to get to him and it’s going to be difficult for him to regroup.”

Speaking to The Scotman in his role as an ambassador for Loch Lomond Whiskies in the build up to the 152nd Open on the Ayrshire coast, Montgomerie added: “Rory is now going to get the sympathetic vote at Troon, that’s for sure. He’s going to be absolutely cheered on left, right and centre.

“The last four holes on Sunday, he could have bogeyed them all as he got up and down at 17th. It was the putt on 16 that was the killer after the wrong club to go big at 15. He’d holed 496 putts in a row inside three foot and hadn’t missed one and then he missed that one. Is that coincidence? Is that pressure? Is that thinking a little bit ahead? Is that a little bit of self doubt? Is it a bit of negativity creeping in? I think it’s everything, isn’t it, rolled into one and that’s a shame.

“You just can’t do that. It’s difficult to win majors and I can attest to that, believe me. You just can’t afford to make that type of mistake. At the same time, if you were saying, and I hate to use the word ‘luck, but, over the day, I think Bryson got away with more than Rory did. The fifth hole (where McIlroy seemingly hit ytwo great shots only to see his ball run off the green and cost him him a bogey) was actually unfair, I think. You can say great things about the course but, at the same time, that green is silly, really.

“But the last putt was a Doug Sanders putt, wasn’t it?” he said, referring to the American missing a tiddler to miss out on victory in The Open at St Andrews in 1970). “You could see it happening and Faldo was dead right in his commentary for Sky Sports. He said that he didn’t see it in him. It was a wee bit tentative. It should have been hit into the hole at pace. Christ, easy to say, I know, but it will be interesting to see how he recovers. Or does he? Faldo said this could haunt him for the rest of his life and it might well do. If he doesn’t win another major it will.”