PORTRUSH, NORTHERN IRELAND | There is a new phenomenon in golf, the Rory Noise, one heard at its loudest when McIlroy himself is in with a chance of winning the Open within a few miles of where he was born in Northern Ireland. It was heard at its most powerful as he began his last round on Sunday afternoon and it could probably be heard down in Dublin in the south and Sligo in the west. It wasn’t that they were not cheering for Matt Fitzpatrick, his playing partner, so much as they were cheering for their local hero.
The Northern Irish love their sport and they love their sportsmen and sportswomen and they love those sportsmen who are at or near the top of their sport most of all. McIlroy is right there, second in the world only to the remarkable Scottie Scheffler, and their faith in their hero was such that while they knew he had a job on his hands in trying to haul in the six strokes he lay behind Scheffler at the start of the day, they had sufficient belief to think he could do it – particularly if they were there to give him every last decibel of their support.
They opened their lungs when his name was announced on the first tee. Spectators lined the side of the first fairway, two or three deep, and continued down the left-hand side of the first hole. They sat in a grandstand at the back of the green peering back down the hole towards the slight figure in a white cap and white trousers who was making his way towards them and on whose shoulders rested all their hopes. There were as many as 15,000 of them.
For a time on this steamy, clammy afternoon, the support for McIlroy drew air away from the other matches. If there was a shortage of oxygen within a 20-mile radius of Portrush it was because it was being sucked up by those willing McIlroy on as he made his way through the stately dunes on this magnificent and demanding course by the sea.
“I’ve gotten everything I wanted out of this week apart from a Claret Jug, and that’s just because one person was just a little bit better than the rest of us.”
Rory McIlroy
In that up-and-down way that McIlroy has, elating his supporters one minute and disappointing them the next, the way he did so memorably in the last round of the Masters three months ago, his outward nine was a confection of five pars, three birdies and one bogey. He delighted them with his two hefty swipes to reach the par-5 second for his first birdie of the day, disappointed them by missing the fourth green and taking three more to get down.
It wasn’t bad by any means but it wasn’t the electrifying play that McIlroy can sometimes produce. It wasn’t good enough to make inroads into Scheffler’s overnight lead. Having started at 8-under par, the Masters champion moved to 10-under by the turn only to crash to 8-under again with a double bogey on the 10th.
There was another phenomenon at work, too. The Rory Noise was not the only one. The Scheffler Stifle was working its effect, too. This is what enables the tall Texan to proceed seemingly only slightly perturbed by the difficulties that affect his rivals. And this usually steady progress seems to stifle the advances of his rivals. We haven’t seen a dominance such as his for a while and we should appreciate it while it lasts.
“Yeah, he’s playing like Scottie,” McIlroy said admiringly on Saturday evening. “I don’t think it’s a surprise. Everyone’s seen the way he’s played or plays over the last two or three years. He’s just so solid. … He’s turned himself into a really consistent putter as well. So there doesn’t seem to be any weakness there. Whenever you’re trying to chase down a guy like that, it’s hard to do. But he’s incredibly impressive.
“He is the bar that we’re all trying to get to at this point, so hats off to him. He’s an unbelievable player, an incredible champion and a great person, too.”
McIlroy climbed back to 10-under par on the 15th, passed through Calamity Corner without misadventure minutes later and, having hit a good drive to a good position on the 18th, walked towards the amphitheatre filled with his adoring fans that surrounds the last green.
He wasn’t going to make the “best walk in golf” as Open champions do and as he had done at Royal Liverpool in 2014 and Shane Lowry, his friend and countryman, had done here in 2019, because that honour this year would fall to Scheffler. A last round of 69, his third in the 60s, left him at 10-under-par 274, seven strokes more than Scheffler. Not becoming Open champion – or the Champion Golfer of the Year as he is described formally – scarcely reduced the noise that greeted McIlroy.
It was as great, perhaps even greater, than at the start of his last round four or so hours earlier and the golfer was visibly moved. He tugged his cap from his head, put it in his left hand and walked every step of the 212 or so yards to his ball waving it to each point of the compass. “Ro-ry! Ro-ry!” they shouted, and after he had holed out he stood there alone for many seconds, like an actor coming to the front of the stage to take a curtain call. That fierce haircut he had subjected himself to earlier in the week made him look much younger; for a moment even slightly overawed.
“I tried as best as I could to keep my emotions in check, especially walking up the last there and that reception,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, look, it’s been an awesome week. I’ve gotten everything I wanted out of this week apart from a Claret Jug, and that’s just because one person was just a little bit better than the rest of us. It’s just been incredible to come back here and to play and at least feel like I had a chance today going out there. Just an awesome time. ”
It wasn’t McIlroy’s Open but no one could say he had let any of his believers down. It was the end of a love-in at the 153rd Open Championship but there will be others, probably many others, in the years to come.
E-MAIL JOHN
Top: Rory McIlroy acknowledges the support of the fans at the 18th hole.
Ramsey Cardy, Sportsfile via Getty Images