Rory McIlroy made a mistake leaving Pinehurst No. 2 early after crushing U.S. Open defeat

Rory McIlroy reacts to his tee shot on the 15th hole during the final round of the 2024 U.S. Open. | Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images

After coughing up the U.S. Open, Rory McIlroy bolted out of Pinehurst No. 2 faster than you could say goodbye. It was a mistake.

Rory McIlroy made plenty of mistakes on Sunday down the stretch at the U.S. Open, where Bryson DeChambeau bested him by one.

People will talk about the missed putts on the 16th and 18th holes for years to come. The poor tee shot on the par-3 15th, where he made three bogeys during the week, is also a point of contention.

But his biggest blunder came after the round, immediately following DeChambeau’s improbable par save to win the title.

McIlroy got out of dodge, squealing out of Pinehurst No. 2 faster than you could say goodbye. He did not speak to the media. He did not talk to anyone at the Golf Channel. He did not congratulate DeChambeau on his second major triumph, perhaps the most glaring mistake of all.

That’s a bad, and quite frankly, a classless move for a player who has shown nothing but class during his illustrious career. You have to face the music afterward, especially considering how much professional golfers are idolized and make nowadays—an amount that will increase exponentially considering the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) pending investment. So many other great athletes have endured heartbreak after heartbreak, and they somehow push through and find a way to describe what happened.

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Rory McIlroy after missing his putt on the 18th green.

McIlroy even did so last year at the U.S. Open in Los Angeles.

After finishing one stroke behind Wyndham Clark, McIlroy spoke to the media afterward and delivered this anecdote:

“When I do finally win this next major, it’s going to be really, really sweet,” McIlroy said at LACC in 2023.

“I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship.”

Do those 100 Sundays include a day like the one McIlroy just experienced at Pinehurst No. 2? Probably not. Nothing can compare to this heartbreak, and I’m not so sure McIlroy can ever recover from what transpired over the final hour of the 124th U.S. Open.

But do you know who else suffered an agonizing defeat only one month ago at Valhalla?

DeChambeau.

What did he do?

He congratulated Xander Schauffele on his first major championship and spoke to the media afterward, providing his perspective on how things played out on the 18th green.

“Proud of Xander for finally getting the job done. He’s an amazing golfer and a well-deserved major champion now,” DeChambeau said.

Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Bryson DeChambeau during the 2024 PGA Championship.

“On my side of the coin, disappointing, but, whatever. I played well. Didn’t strike it my best all week. Felt like I had my ‘B’ game pretty much. My putting was A-plus, my wedging was A-plus, my short game was A-plus, and driving was like a B. You know, I shot 20-under par in a major championship. Proud of myself for the way I handled adversity.”

DeChambeau did not collapse, per se, as Schauffele birdied the final hole to beat him by a stroke at 21-under. The LIV Golf star fired a final round 8-under 64. He put the pressure on, coming up a tad short.

Nevertheless, it was still a tough way to finish. Losing is hard, especially in golf, a game that barely makes any sense.

McIlroy, meanwhile, is not the first—nor will he be the last—to suffer a stomach-wrenching defeat.

Look no further than Phil Mickelson’s mishap on the 72nd hole at Winged Foot in 2006 and Dustin Johnson’s three-putt gaffe at Chambers Bay in 2015.

Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Dustin Johnson after missing a birdie putt that would have forced a playoff at the 2015 U.S. Open.

Yet, both Mickelson and Johnson took it on the chin after their respective collapses.

McIlroy did not.

Mickelson, after blowing it on 18 and handing the title to Geoff Ogilvy, famously said, “I’m in shock, I can’t believe I’ve just done that. I’m such an idiot.”

Johnson, meanwhile, received 11 questions from the media in 2015, each of them primarily focused on what transpired on the 18th green, where he gifted the championship to Jordan Spieth.

“Disappointed,” Johnson said on that fateful Father’s Day in the Pacific Northwest.

“I had all the chances in the world. I’m really proud of the way I hit the ball. Proud of the way I handled myself all day.”

Do you know how many questions McIlroy fielded on Sunday?

Zero.

Instead of talking to the press, or to anyone from NBC Sports for that matter, McIlroy bolted to his car before DeChambeau even accepted the trophy. His private plane was in the air by 7:30 p.m. ET, roughly 40 minutes after he missed on 18, and he landed in South Florida an hour and 14 minutes later, per Radar Atlas.

oh man pic.twitter.com/TzeMUWo3uP

— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) June 16, 2024

I understand that facing scrutiny in the age of social media and 24/7 news coverage is demanding and difficult, especially in moments of heartbreak and agony. I also know that he has a lot going on in his personal life. But McIlroy makes millions of dollars to play golf. Hundreds of people also cover the sport, making nowhere close to what McIlroy earns. It’s their job to share McIlroy’s perspective with millions around the world in an effort to grow the game and provide a viewpoint on one of the biggest events in the sport.

It’s also McIlroy’s duty to explain what happened. It’s also the right thing to do.

Do you think Scott Norwood of the Buffalo Bills wanted to meet the media after he missed the game-winning field goal in Super Bowl XXV? No. But he did. Norwood answered every single question—just like Mickelson and Johnson.

That’s what professional athletes do.

Hence, McIlroy made a massive mistake of blowing off the media and not acknowledging DeChambeau. He’s better than that.

But at the end of the day, we are all human. Hopefully, McIlroy, and others for that matter, will learn from this mistake because a mistake is a mistake only if you can’t learn from it.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.