With victory, via a play-off with Justin Rose, McIlroy became only the sixth man in history to win all four majors, his destiny fulfilled. But why did it have to be so hard?
Of course he missed it, forcing him back to the 18th tee and a play-off with Rose, whose 66 trampled all over the soul of the disintegrating McIlroy over a thrilling back nine. Rose hit his approach to 12 feet, McIlroy somehow gathered himself to slip the blade inside it, spinning the ball back down the slope four feet from the cup.
When he went to the 15th tee, McIlroy trailed Rose by one. His second, an iron from beneath the overhanging branches, was in the context of another looming heartbreak, arguably the shot of his career, curling over the water to eight feet. He missed the putt but at least the birdie stopped the bleeding.
So to the 18th he went, once again holding the lead. The wonder is he could grip the club at all knowing what was at stake, the career-defining green jacket that eluded him so painfully 11 years ago, weighing as heavy as ever.
At the second McIlroy stumbled again, falling a shot behind, evoking 2011 vibes when a four-shot lead was not enough to save him. Remarkably, at the third he was a shot ahead and after four he led by three. When the numbers went up on the leaderboard at the entrance to the course the stunned crowd erupted, spewing wild Rory acclaim into the air like lava.
At the fifth McIlroy was so far right in the bushes it felt like sedatives should be offered to the galleries. He appeared to have no shot until he hit it, a high, looping draw to the fringe. A graph charting their states of mind, never mind their scores, would have looked like a cross section of the Alps; up, down, up, down.
The 10th tee was where it all fell apart 11 years ago. The tree that diverted his ball among the wooded cabins is not longer there. Neither is the snap hook that Lee Westwood once claimed was always in young Rory’s bag. McIlroy spilt the deep blue ether with a laser drive en route to another birdie. He was freewheeling then. In the end we were all reaching for something medicinal.
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