Rory McIlroy takes his frustration out on one of his clubs
ARDMORE, Pa. — Rory McIlroy started the U.S. Open with a run up the Rocky steps.
He ended it going a few rounds with his wedge.
McIlroy was miserable at Merion and he took out his frustrations on his club on No. 11 on Sunday. His first tee shot plopped in the water. He took a drop, then sent another ball into the same creek.
McIlroy then jammed the Nike club into the ground and completely twisted the head.
"I think that's what this tournament does to you," he said. "At one point or another, it's got the better of you, and it definitely did this weekend."
He briefly lost his cool, just not his sense of humour.
When he was introduced at his press conference as shooting 14 over, he joked, "You didn't have to tell them that part."
He shot a 6-over 76 in the final round.
McIlroy was part of the feature group the opening two rounds, playing alongside Tiger Woods and Adam Scott — Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in the world ranking. All three were big duds at Merion Golf Club. Woods finished at 13 over, and Scott at 15 over.
"I thought of the three of us, the first two rounds, Adam played the best, and he was the one with the worst score," McIlroy said. "But that is just what a U.S. Open does to you."
Again, McIlroy never came close to winning. He finished 25th at the Masters this year and was coming off a brutal 78 at the Memorial. He barely made the cut and finished 57th. Most notably, he quit in the middle of a round at the Honda Classic.
The 24-year-old from Northern Ireland believed, though, his game is rounding into form.
"I don't feel like my game is that far away," he said. "That's what I've been taking out of this week. It's a matter of trying to let it all click into place."
With his wedge as bent out of shape as his game, McIlroy finished with 13 clubs. It might not have mattered if he had 19.
The former world No. 1 again refused to blame his equipment switch for his season-long struggles.
"I sort of needed to play a little bit more," he said. "If I was to do it all over again, I would have done things slightly differently. But you learn from that and it's hopefully something I'll never have to do in my career again. So I don't mind taking three months to figure it out and go from there."
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MISSED AGAIN: Tied for the U.S. Open lead, Hunter Mahan was on cruise control.
He was the steadiest player for most of Sunday at Merion Golf Club, ripping off par after par after par to stay in the hunt.
Then he hit No. 15.
Mahan's tee shot sailed into the rough. So did his second. Just like that, Mahan's Open run was over.
He fell from a three-way tie for first after his double-bogey on 15 and finished in a four-way tie for fourth with a 5-over 75 and a 285 total. It was his best Open finish since he was sixth in 2009.
"It was brutal out there," Mahan said. "It was tough finishing. But I swung it pretty well, kept my composure."
He scored pars on 13 of his 14 holes with one bogey and tied for the lead with winner Justin Rose and Phil Mickelson going into 15, where he three-putted for double bogey.
He rebounded with a par on 16, but bogeyed the next two holes and lost any chance of winning his first major.
"It's not fun on the last three there," he said. "Phil and I had great chances on 16, and none of us could make it."
Mahan has yet to win this season and really never has been in the final-round hunt at a major. Still, he saw a silver lining.
"It's good to be there, because every time you get back there again, you feel a little bit more calm," he said. "You know it's still golf. And it's still about hitting good shots."
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MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT: Third place at the Masters. Tied for second at the U.S. Open.
And that's just this year.
Jason Day's too young to get saddled with that dreaded Best Player Never To Win a Major label, so he might as well go ahead and win one.
"As long as I keep knocking on the door," he said Sunday, "I think I'll win a major here soon."
It sure looks inevitable after watching him this week at Merion Golf Club. Rounds of 70, 74, 68 and 71 can be worn liked a badge of honour at a championship in which the winning score was Justin Rose's 1-over 281. Day finished two shots back, tied with Phil Mickelson.
The 25-year-old Day has played in five majors. He's finished out of the top 10 only once.
This year, he's the only player to finish in the top 10 in both majors.
Day spent Sunday hovering near the top, unable to break through because he kept cancelling himself out. Birdie at No. 4, bogey at No. 5. Birdie at No. 10, bogey at No. 11. He was one off the lead when he got to 18, but he put his approach in the bunker and missed a 5-footer for par.
"Nearly made the birdie on 13. ... Nearly holed a good putt on 15. ... Had two good saves on 16 and 17."
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SARTORIAL ELEGANCE: Billy Horschel may not have won the US Open, but he certainly left his mark on the 2013 tournament.
Considering the history of bad pants in golf, Horschel's Octopus-print pair weren't the gaudiest things ever seen on course. Somewhere, John Daly, long considered golf's leader in the clubhouse for bad fashion, is rummaging through his closet for a response.
"Well here they are! The highly anticipated highly controversial....Octopus pants!" he tweeted shortly before heading over to the course.
Strange as the pants looked, few people should have been surprised by the unusual fashion statement. Eclectic only begins to describe Horschel; according to his PGA Tour bio, he also devoured the Twilight young-adult vampire novels in the span of two weeks and is "a believer in Bigfoot and UFOs."
But as far as fashion, Horschel is hardly alone. Englishman Ian Poulter has long been considered the front-runner in today's game, wearing everything from his native flag to something best described as an old TV test pattern. Rickie Fowler has pushed the boundary in terms of colour, but usually wears the same tone from head to toe.
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MERION RETURN: Merion's fifth U.S. Open is in the books.
Now the question is, will it come back for a sixth?
The USGA's gamble to bring the event back to Merion for the first time in 32 years appeared successful. The red scores expected to dominate the 6,996-yard course never came, as the course played plenty tough.
The one thing Merion couldn't control was the weather. Rain that soaked Merion early in the week and softened the course stayed for the first two days. Rain also fell Sunday.
The compact course was a bit of a logistical headache for players. The driving range was about a mile away on the West course, forcing players to take a shuttle to their starting tees. But the event went off without any major incidents.
The U.S Open is locked into sites through 2020.
Tamed by Merion, Tiger Woods expected the course to land another spot.
"I'm sure it will come back," Woods said. "It could definitely host another major championship. But I don't know if USGA wants to. They make a lot of money on other venues."
Rory McIlroy lobbied for a return visit.
"Some guys want to keep that 30-year gap going just because it's beaten up on us so much," he said. "But I think it would be great to have it back here."
Fans seemed to have little trouble weaving their way through the crowds. The USGA capped ticket sales to about 25,000 a day, well below the average of 40,000 daily tickets at most other venues. Folks who lived in the stately homes lining the perimeter of Merion threw open their doors for a giant block party. And when it rained, fans flocked for cover at the merchandise tents.
"It was a fantastic atmosphere, the people were into it," Woods said. "Obviously, there weren't as many people as some of the U.S. Open sites. But this was, I think, more intimate. People were very close to you."
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VOLUNTEER STRUCK: Luke Donald's errant tee shot on the third hole struck a volunteer in the elbow. Sara Clark, a standard bearer, was hit in the left elbow and knocked to the ground near the bunker. She needed an ice pack at the medical tent before she was released. Clark did not return to the course. The USGA said most standard bearers range from 14 to 21 years old.
Donald appeared visibly shook. He made bogey, and then followed that with two bogeys and a double bogey. He shot 42 on the back nine.
"She was in some pain and felt a little bit faint, and I felt a little bit faint, too, watching it," Donald said. "Unfortunately, you never like that to happen, and it was a very tough break for her."
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NO DOUBT: Shawn Stefani put a star on what had been a so-so U.S. Open performance when he registered the first ace of the championship by holing out at the 213-yard, par-three 17th on Sunday.
Even for an ace, it was a stunning hole-out.
The 31-year-old Texan landed his four-iron tee shot in the left rough, saw it bounce out, hop on the green and slowly roll and curl some 60 feet before trickling into the cup.
It was the 43rd hole-in-one shot in 113 U.S. Opens and the first he ever posted in a tournament.
"Once it did kick, it kept rolling and I was like, well this could be good," he said. "And the fans stood up and then it kept getting closer and closer and then when it went in, I was just super excited because it's the first hole-in-one I've ever had in a tournament."
Stefani delighted fans at 17 by kissing the ground where the ball began its unlikely path to the cup.
The only previous ace for Stefani came when he was 13.