Rory McIlroy’s long wait for his fifth major will continue after he let slip a two-shot in the final few holes of the US Open as Bryson DeChambeau took home the trophy.
The Pinehurst course has historically taken no prisoners and it was a similar story this week.
McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay set the standard very early on with hugely impressive rounds of five-under-par on Thursday.
Ludvig Aberg, DeChambeau and Matthieu Pavon kept them both within arms reach with the young Swede then taking the overnight lead heading into Saturday.
But then it was the turn of DeChambeau to light up the stage once more with a round of 67 to become the only player in the field to shoot under par in the three opening rounds.
Rory McIlroy held a two-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau with a few holes remaining
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Cantlay, McIlroy and Pavon struggled to match the ‘Mad Scientist’ as he held a three-shot lead going into Sunday.
Given the dangers of the Pinehurst course, nothing was certain heading into the final round and DeChambeau was showing some signs of nerves early on.
He’d lost his way off the tee and was having to scramble his way round the course to try and save pars.
McIlroy came out the blocks quickly with a birdie on the first to immediately eat into DeChambeau’s lead and that was cut to just one after the American bogeyed the fifth.
Cantlay was just about keeping pace with McIlroy and DeChambeau, but it was proving to be a straight shootout between the latter two.
McIlroy found his groove midway through the round as he hit four birdies in the space of five holes.
The birdie on the 13th ended up putting him two shots clear of DeChambeau, who had just bogeyed the 12th seconds before.
DeChambeau retaliated with a birdie of his own on the 13th but the pressure soon began to tell for both players.
McIlroy took too much club on the treacherous 15th as he went over the back of the green into the sandy vegetation and walked away with a bogey.
Patrick Cantlay’s challenge fell away on the weekend
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DeChambeau then made a costly error of his own on the 15th as he three-putted for another bogey.
But they were back level once more when McIlroy had a three-putt of his own on the 16th, the last missing from just two feet.
It left them both level heading into the final two holes and McIlroy made another unnecessary mistake off the tee on the 18th by taking driver and finding the native stuff on the left side of the fairway.
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His ball nestled behind a shrub and he was unable to make the green with his approach. He gave himself a great look at par with another incredible chip, but he saw the three-footer lip out to give DeChambeau a one-shot lead as he got on the 18th.
However, DeChambeau followed McIlroy’s route with the surprising choice of driver off the tee and it cost him massively as he ball stopped behind a root and then missed his approach into the short-right bunker.
An up-and-down from there was never going to be easy but DeChambeau produced arguably the shot of the tournament out of the sand to leave him just four feet for the US Open.
No mistake from DeChambeau and the crowd around the 18th green erupted as the ball dropped into the cup as the American roared with delight.
Source Agencies
