Searching for the end of his nine-year major championship drought, Rory McIlroy managed to beat 154 players in the field at the 123rd U.S. Open.
Only one player topped him, by a single stroke, leaving McIlroy to start from scratch yet again at the next one.
The Northern Irishman's 9-under 271 was the lowest score in U.S. Open history by a player who didn't win. Wyndham Clark scored an even-par 70 on Sunday to finish at 10 under, and one of the best golfers in the world matched that 70, stuck just behind and never asking Clark to match him shot for shot.
After two-putting for birdie at the par-5 first hole at the Los Angeles Country Club, McIlroy could not get another birdie to fall the rest of the final round. He made 12 straight pars -- missing 11 birdie putts in that span -- before a bogey at the par-5 14th pushed him three behind Clark.
The longest putt McIlroy made Sunday was a par save of 7 feet, 3 inches at No. 16.
It was reminiscent of the way McIlroy fell short at the 2022 Open Championship 11 months ago, when he made all 18 greens in regulation and two-putted every hole.
"The last real two chances I've had at majors I feel like have been pretty similar performances, like St Andrews last year and then here," McIlroy said. "Not doing a lot wrong, but I didn't make a birdie since the first hole today. Just trying to be a little more, I guess, efficient with my opportunities and my looks."
McIlroy sputtered to third place at that Open, and Sunday was his third runner-up finish and his 19th major top-10 since he last won a major at the 2014 PGA Championship.
Other near-misses have ranged from a come-from-behind second-place finish at the 2022 Masters, where he shot a final-round 64, to last month's PGA Championship, where he tied for seventh but was highly critical of his own game. He feels his game is trending for the better.
"I can play free. I think I proved that (Sunday)," McIlroy said. "Just felt like my speed control was a little off with the putter. That's probably why I didn't make a birdie since the first."
Good news may be around the corner for McIlroy as the best golfers in the world turn their sights to Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England, for the Open Championship. McIlroy's only time lifting the Claret Jug came in 2014 at Royal Liverpool.
McIlroy was asked if it's exhausting for him to face the same questions about coming up short and coping with disappointment time after time.
"It is, but at the same time, when I do finally win this next major, it's going to be really, really sweet," he said. "I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship."
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