Ryan Lavner has suggested that he does not believe that he will ever forget what Rory McIlroy did on the 16th green on Sunday at the US Open immediately after he missed the short putt which opened the door again for Bryson DeChambeau.
Rory McIlroy looks to closing in on his return to action this week, with the Northern Irishman the biggest name in the field at the Scottish Open ahead of The Open Championship this month.
McIlroy has not played since losing the US Open to Bryson DeChambeau by one shot at Pinehurst last month. Of course, two moments which will stick with anyone who watched that amazing final day in North Carolina were the two short putts McIlroy missed in the final three holes.
The putt on 18 was a horrible tester that many would have probably missed, but the 35-year-old’s chances of making it were probably not helped by an inexplicable miss on 16 when the tournament appeared to be in his grasp.
The Rory McIlroy moment from the US Open few will ever forget
For many, that was the moment which provided the biggest turning point, as it arguably highlighted just how nervous McIlroy seemed to be about finally getting across the line in a major after nearly a decade.
With McIlroy leaving the course swiftly after his second place was confirmed, and not playing since, the world has had to wait for his insight on what happened, particularly on the back nine.
And speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Lavner suggested that he would love to find out about one particular moment which came after McIlroy’s ball had gone back past the hole on 16.
“I still think one of the images of the year, when Rory missed that two-and-a-half footer on the 16th green, and it rims out hard, his hand expression to ‘slow down’, like the ball ‘slow down, do not go too far away’, is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget,” he said.
“The frailty that that showed in the moment, this was slipping away from him, I’d love to dig into what that meant, what he was feeling in that moment, even if it is a month removed.”
Major championship pressure seems impossible to replicate at any other time
The worry for McIlroy is he cannot get into that kind of position on a weekly basis. He knows better than most what it takes to win tournaments, and he usually has the ability to get himself across the line.
But the majors carry a different pressure at the best of times, and it is particularly tough for McIlroy given how many questions he has to answer about his current drought.
Everything was going to plan at Pinehurst, and in any other event, he comfortably rolls that putt in on 16 before cruising to the title.
And should he find himself in a similar position in a future major, he would not be human if he did not think about his Pinehurst collapse and wonder whether it could happen again.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
