Rory McIlroy’s major heartbreak continues: How does he bounce back from US Open disappointment?

Former Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart reflects on how Rory McIlroy can recover from his major heartbreak at the US Open and Bryson DeChambeau’s dramatic victory at Pinehurst No 2…

This one will be difficult for McIlroy. For 67 holes he was looking about as assured as I’ve ever seen him over the past 10 years, since he won those two majors in 2014. He was looking confident, doing all the right things and looked like he was finally going to get that monkey off his back.

The drama that unfolded at the end was quite sickening for all McIlroy fans, friends, family and Rory himself. This will hit really, really hard because it looked like he had it in the bag and within about 40 minutes his dreams were destroyed.

He’s gone on record in saying that the longer it goes on, the wait for the elusive major, it’s starting to feel like it was when he won his very first one. When he was young, he was bulletproof, and everything was coming easy to him in his career. It’s a different age and stage for him now.

For someone of his quality and his ability to admit that just shows just how tense he is feeling over these closing nine holes. Nobody wants to see anyone lose it like that.

Wayne Riley called it spot on in commentary when he questioned why he was hitting the driver off the tee at the last. It’s the most important shot of his week and potentially career-changing, but he had to find the fairway.

There were only 13 bogeys on that hole all day, so it wasn’t the hardest hole if he found the fairway. For some reason he wanted to take driver, he obviously felt like that gave him the best opportunity and the rest is history.

How McIlroy responded to major heartbreak

I don’t think we can be critical of people not doing media after rounds like that. The emotions he has gone through, and the disappointment levels after throwing it away like that, are off the scale.

It would have been very difficult to do any kind of composed reflection and answer any legitimate questions that the world’s media had at that time. He was absolutely sickened by what he had just done.

I think his head will be scrambled for quite some time. There are obviously things going on off the course that can’t be helping either, distractions there that he has spoken about, and it will take a while to get over it.

He has got the Travelers Championship this week, so it’s a case of getting back on the horse. It’s the final Signature Event of the season and he will peg it up there, which is maybe a good thing, but it isn’t a major. He could win by five and it wouldn’t take anything away from the sting and the pain that he is feeling about this one.

The longer it goes on, the harder this major is going to get. Yes, Royal Troon is just around the corner, but the pressure of trying to get that fifth major, getting out of this 10-year slump, right now just seems to be too much for McIlroy.

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DeChambeau embraces role as entertainer

That bunker shot at the 18th was off the charts and one of the best shots you will ever see to win a major championship in your life. There were so many things that could have gone wrong with that, never mind the pressure he was under.

I enjoyed seeing the celebrations and big reactions all week from Bryson. A lot of players are very calm and not very animated, but DeChambeau was all week and has been in the last three majors.

He is really starting to get an incredible following and getting people onside. He really has embraced this role of the entertainer – he seems to be a lot more mature now and a much older head on those young shoulders.

He played incredible golf around a very dangerous golf course, and ultimately hit more of the right shots and holed the right putts when it mattered down the stretch. I thoroughly enjoyed everything he offered this week and he was a great champion.

The US players seem to have a bit of a monopoly on the majors right now and that trend might still be able to continue in The Open at Royal Troon. There’s no doubt this win will give DeChambeau plenty of confidence heading there, where he can try and get the second leg of the career Grand Slam.

There’s certainly more to come from DeChambeau’s locker, that’s for sure.

Watch Rory McIlroy in PGA Tour and DP World Tour action live this season on Sky Sports. The 152nd Open at Royal Troon is live from July 18-21 on Sky Sports Golf. Stream the PGA Tour, majors and more with NOW.