Golf has not been variety to Rory McIlroy this 12 months.
The agony continued Sunday within the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Membership when American Billy Horschel drained a 35-foot eagle putt on the second playoff gap to edge McIlory by one shot.
Horschel appeared sheepishly at McIlroy after the putt dropped, admitting in his post-round interview on the Golf Channel that he was “just a little dissatisfied.”
“Rory’s a very good pal of mine,” Horschel mentioned candidly. “I believe the world of him, I believe he is a generational expertise, and I understand how shut he is been this 12 months.”
The Northern Irishman was three pictures again of the lead getting into Sunday’s last spherical. After making a clutch eagle on gap 17, he tied the lead and held on for a three-man playoff.
Thriston Lawrence made bogey on the primary playoff gap, leaving Horschel and McIlroy to duel it out for the win.
The BMW PGA Championship marks McIlroy’s fourth second-place finish this year. Nevertheless, this shut defeat felt totally different than the others.
With a three-shot lead in June’s U.S. Open, the occasion that marked a decade since McIlroy’s final main win, he missed two quick putts, together with a three-footer on the 18th, to open the door for Bryson DeChambeau.
A month later, when doing media for the British Open, the world No. 2 golfer admitted he wasn’t in the “right head space” in the course of the US Open, worrying extra about DeChambeau’s positioning than specializing in his personal recreation.
The heartbreak continued in early September throughout McIlroy’s homecoming to Northern Eire on the Irish Open. Coming into the ultimate spherical at Royal County Down, he led by 4 pictures however bogeyed holes 15 and 17. Rasmus Hojgaard snatched the victory by one shot.
This weekend’s competitors performed out in a different way, with McIlroy turning into the hunter as an alternative of the hunted. He confirmed a resilience and focus that was lacking from his previous couple of signature occasions. Whereas he continues to fall wanting that elusive victory, the way of his defeat at Wentworth ought to encourage optimism.
McIlroy performed distinctive when he wanted to most, not getting in his personal manner as he did many occasions this 12 months. Horschel merely drained a world-class putt.
In contrast to after his second-place end on the US Open, when he exited the venue without speaking to the media, McIlroy gave an trustworthy evaluation of his play after Sunday’s defeat.
“I’m taking part in properly,” he instructed Sky Sports activities. “I’m giving myself possibilities … I simply acquired to mud myself off and get myself prepared for my final three occasions of the 12 months.”