TROON, Scotland — Tuesday marked exactly 30 days since Rory McIlroy missed two short putts on the final three holes of the final round at Pinehurst No. 2 Golf Club and missed out on winning the U.S. Open.
The pain was clear on his pale face as he stumbled out of the 18th hole and toward the scoring tent.
And that was made even more clear when, moments after Bryson DeChambeau seized the moment McIlroy sorely missed to secure victory, the loaner tire on his SUV sliced up the gravel in the Pinehurst parking lot.
In the moments after perhaps the most devastating defeat of McIlroy’s career, which has seen him 10 years without a fifth major win, dozens of text messages appeared on his phone.
One of them was from Tiger Woods, who said Tuesday that he sent McIlroy a letter of encouragement about a week after the U.S. Open, intentionally trying to calm the aftertaste of his defeat.
“I just sent him a kind message,” Woods said. “I waited a week to send it. I wanted to wait until he was calm. I know a lot of things have been going through his mind and I wanted him to have a week to calm down.”
message?
“Basically it was, ‘You know, I’m your friend. I know this is a difficult time. As champions, we’ve all been in the same situation. We all lose,'” Woods said. “Unfortunately, it just happened and the raw emotions from that are still there and I’m sure they will be for a while. The sooner he can get back on the horse and get back competing like he did last week, the better for him.”
A funny thing happened between Woods’ text message and Tuesday: McIlroy didn’t get it until Tuesday.
“To be honest with you, I changed my number two days after the U.S. Open, so I didn’t know what it was until he told me today,” McIlroy said. “I was like, ‘Oh, thanks a lot,’ so I kind of ignored Tiger Woods, which probably wasn’t a good thing.”
“Tiger has been great to me throughout my career through the good and bad times. He sent me a great message after (losing at) St. Andrews in 2022. I met Tiger when I was 15 and have had a great relationship with him and all his family. He also really enjoys spending time with my mum and dad.”
“So it means a lot that he reached out. In fact, it means a lot that he waited a few days to reach out. If he hadn’t waited so long, I probably would have reached out. It’s always nice when one of your heroes, someone who you had hanging on your bedroom wall, reaches out and offers words of encouragement.”
McIlroy was asked, somewhat jokingly, if there were “five stages of grief” and if changing his jersey number added another stage.
“I’m not coming out of grief, but I’m OK,” McIlroy said with a laugh.
He said it took him three or four days to calm down after the Pinehurst incident.
On trips to Manhattan, he dulled the pain by walking alone on the High Line, lost in thought, listening to music on headphones and eating at Le Bernardin, one of his favorite New York restaurants.
He called the trip to Manhattan “kind of liberating,” adding, “It’s just about getting outside and looking at your surroundings, not at a (TV) screen. I think it’s really important to try to find joy in the little things in life.”
“It’s a nice change of pace, especially when you go there and you can see everyone going about their lives and the hustle and bustle. Honestly, in Pinehurst, if I missed a putt, nobody cared. It’s a good perspective to go to a big city like that and just get lost and be part of the crowd going about their day. For me, it feels good.”
Speaking in New York City, McIlroy said he was able to move past the pain of his U.S. Open defeat and refocus on what he does well.
“I went from being very disappointed and depressed, trying to focus on the positives, trying to learn from the negatives and then having the enthusiasm and drive to go play golf again,” he said. “It’s funny how you can go from, ‘I don’t want to see a golf course for a month,’ to four days later I can’t wait to try golf again.”
“When that disappointment turns into motivation, that’s when it’s time to try again.”
