They say that no one ever remembers who finished second, and Rory McIlroy probably wishes the cliché actually were true.
The world No. 3 finished an agonising runner-up behind Bryson DeChambeau in this summer’s U.S. Open, and he repeated the disappointment by finishing second again in the Amgen Irish Open on Sunday at Royal County Down, foiled by a sensational final round of 6-under-par 65 from Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard.
The 23-year-old Højgaard – twin brother of Nicolai – trailed McIlroy by three shots heading into Sunday, and four holes into the action he had failed to close the gap. In fact, it had widened to five after McIlroy made birdie at the first and second holes.
Whereupon the tone of the day changed completely. American Jimmy Walker had posted an early bogey-free 65 to prove that going low was possible. It eventually earned him a share of seventh. England’s Daniel Brown, an unlikely cult hero of the Open when he tied for 10th at Royal Troon in July, reiterated his fondness for links golf with a 66 to set a clubhouse target of 6-under that would seal solo fourth. McIlroy’s playing competitor, Matteo Manassero, would beat that score by one to claim third, but the destiny of the trophy was in the hands of two players.
Højgaard swapped five birdies with two bogeys in his next 10 holes (including an outrageous holed pitch from the top of a dune at 10) and still trailed McIlroy by two strokes, but the Northern Irishman’s inability to capitalise on many opportunities to break par was shredding the nerves of the galleries.
“This win is massive, and it couldn’t come at a better time. I can’t wait for the rest of the year. It’s a big confidence boost.”
Rasmus Højgaard
The Dane closed with three straight birdies, the middle of them directly from a bunker at 17, to ease one shot clear. The tension tightened yet again, not least because one of McIlroy’s defining features had re-emerged: The capacity to make the simple look impossible and the impossible look simple, often in consecutive holes.
At 17, he raced a 27-foot birdie attempt 10 feet past the hole and missed the return par putt. Now two shots behind Højgaard, McIlroy needed an eagle-3 at the last to force extra holes.
The 544-yard hole had yielded just one eagle all day (and that was via a chip-in). The landing area for the drive was as narrow as a corseted waist, but McIlroy found the middle of it. The pin was front left, protected by both a false front and a pot bunker. His 8-iron approach from 191 yards finished 10 feet from the pin. No one finished closer with his second shot all day.
The gallery members, who had clambered up, raced between and clung to the top of the sandhills all day, roared guttural approval of their hero’s blow. They descended from those dunes to surround him on the fairway, and he was greeted by chants of “Rory! Rory! Rory!” as he marked his ball on the putting surface.
The atmosphere felt very familiar, like a replay of his second round in the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush. On that day, he was merely attempting to make the cut, but the home gallery’s affection and support was a revelation to him and later prompted tears.
Alas there was another sense of déjà vu: Then, as now, the final putt refused to drop.
Watching on television in the scorer’s hut, Højgaard had his head in his hands. The victory was his fifth on the DP World Tour but comfortably the most significant and vaults him to second place in the Race to Dubai rankings, behind McIlroy.
“It was a hard watch,” Højgaard said. “I had a number that I was trying to reach, and that was 8-under, so to get to 9-under was gold. At the 10th, I got away with a good lie and was lucky the flag got in the way of my ball. At 17, I was worried my ball would plug, but it was a good lie, and to hole it was key.
At some point before or after McIlroy’s own visit to the scorer’s hut, one might have suspected that he, too, found his head drooping toward his fingers, but for very different reasons.
For so long, the week had appeared to be the one in which he might break a dispiriting run of results on home soil.
He played in the 2007 Walker Cup at Royal County Down as an 18-year-old from nearby Holywood and was billed as the star of the show, but he scored just a half-point in his first three matches during GB&I’s eventual defeat.
“The support I got out there this week was absolutely amazing. I’ve had a great time being home. It’s been too long."
Rory McIlroy
Eight years later, the Irish Open headed to RCD and he opened with an 80 on his way to missing the cut. He missed another Irish Open cut at Portstewart two years before his downbeat 2019 Open effort.
With the Open Championship returning to Royal Portrush next year, it felt essential that he clear his mind of bad memories, and yet he has probably only added to them, although he later insisted otherwise.
“That roar after I hit that second shot on 18 was pretty cool,” he told the Irish Independent. “The support I got out there this week was absolutely amazing. I’ve had a great time being home. It’s been too long. Need to keep coming back home more often,” said the 35-year-old McIlroy, who lives with his young family in Jupiter, Florida, and plays primarily a U.S.-based PGA Tour schedule.
“But, look, from where I was at the start of the week and what I wanted to do, it’s a step in the right direction. You know, if anything, it just whets my appetite even more for Portrush next year.
“I felt like I was in control of the tournament for most of the day, doing what I needed to do, making a lot of pars, making the odd birdie. Then obviously the two bogeys on 15 and 17 opened the door for someone to have a good finish like Rasmus did.
“Overall, obviously really disappointed that I didn’t win, but I’ll try to take the positives and move on next week to Wentworth [for the BMW PGA Championship].”
Of another near-miss, he added: “Unfortunately I’m getting used to it this year. Hopefully the tide is going to turn pretty soon, and I can turn all these close calls into victories.”
Matt Cooper