The 2024 US Open will be remembered for a long time, it will be talked about, the images will be seen again, it will certainly go down in golf history. And probably the name of the winner – Bryson DeChambeau – will only be a detail because the heart of the story, the absolute protagonist, is the defeated hero, once again beaten by the gods of sport against whom he has been fighting for years, each time a little closer to the sacred fire that is denied to him, each time more deluded and more cruelly rejected. The hero of this story is Rory McIlroy, a magnificent loser like a Homeric warrior.
too much pressure
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At 25, Rory had already won four majors. One US Open in 2011, two PGA Championships and a British Open. He only needed the Masters to make the Grand Slam, it seemed only a matter of time. His last success was in 2014, ten years have passed. Since then he has won many tournaments, including very important ones, but never one of the four totems of golf. Yesterday, Sunday 16 June, the right moment seemed to have arrived, the long-awaited one. At the 15th hole he was two shots ahead of DeChambeau, just over half an hour away from his triumph, master of his destiny, cheered by the audience and smiling. Then the gods, evil and spiteful, took the satisfaction of punishing the man who was about to break their spell. We all form opinions of people based on how they behave when under pressure. And yesterday Rory – unfortunately – redefined golf’s negative opinion of him. Yesterday Rory had a disastrous fall, making a mistake in what seemed impossible. He broke under the weight of the pressure. On the green of the 16th he found himself having to hit an easy putt for par. About sixty centimeters. Up to that point in the season, he had made 496 putts within three feet of distance, about a meter, and he had holed… 496. All of them. No error. One hundred percent achievement. The ball went overboard and he stopped ten centimeters from the hole. Mocking. Twenty minutes later, at 6pm, the same scene. 498th putt under one meter, second error of the season. And the door is wide open to DeChambeau who was defeated half an hour earlier and suddenly found himself the 2024 UsOpen champion.
surrender and escape
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Rory didn’t wait even a second. He lowered his head, closed his eyes and ran away. He got in the car and was already gone when DeChambeau raised the cup. Alone with himself and with his curse. In recent weeks he had filed the divorce papers from his wife Erica, then withdrew them, granting another six months of probation to the marriage in crisis. Who knows if he found some consolation last night by talking to Erica or if the enormity of the defeat created a new rift between them. Because in these ten years of hunting for a major McIlroy could tell himself that he had always been beaten by someone who had played better than him at that moment. It happens, golf is like this, you can accept it. But how can you move forward knowing that this time it’s your fault, that no one was better than you but that you simply gave up in the face of your fragility? That you weren’t as good enough as you always thought you were. Today Rory is a defeated hero. He lost in such a sensational way that he stole the show from the winner. Who knows if the opportunity will arise again or if the golf gods have definitively closed the game. We humans certainly don’t stop rooting for him.
