Xander Schauffele: Rory McIlroy in ‘tough spot’ after US Open heartbreak due to intense microscope | Golf News

Xander Schauffele: Rory McIlroy in ‘tough spot’ after US Open heartbreak due to intense microscope | Golf News


As someone who has held the unofficial title of ‘best player yet to win a major’, Xander Schauffele can empathise with Rory McIlroy’s decision not to compete at this week’s Travelers Championship.

On the heels of missing a pair of short putts over the final three holes on Sunday to finish second by a stroke to Bryson DeChambeau at the US Open, McIlroy left Pinehurst No 2 without speaking to reporters and announced the following day that he will not play again until next month’s Scottish Open.

McIlroy’s decade-long major drought will endure at least until at The Open Championship in July. Meanwhile, Schauffele is still riding the high of his first major title triumph at last month’s PGA Championship.

Until surviving DeChambeau by a stroke at Valhalla Golf Club, Schauffele had a reputation for struggling to close on final-round leads.

The story of McIlroy’s dramatic final round which descended into heartbreak with three bogeys in his last four holes

“As a competitor, all of us have had our highs and lows to a certain degree. It’s a tough spot,” Schauffele said when asked Tuesday how much empathy he has for McIlroy’s current situation.

“I’m sure him and his team are discussing what happened and sometimes you just need to step away from it all and really try and be as objective as possible, because you’re very much in the moment there and it obviously didn’t go his way.

“He needs some time away to figure out what’s going on.”

Highlights from a thrilling final round of the US Open at Pinehurst No 2

McIlroy has been criticised for bolting Pinehurst and returning home without speaking with reporters after Sunday’s final round. He issued a statement on Monday congratulating DeChambeau and announcing that he will be taking a break from golf for a few weeks.

The Northern Irishman acknowledged that it was “probably the toughest” day of his professional career, but vowed to show resilience when he returns for the Scottish Open followed by The Open at Royal Troon.

Paul McGinley believes McIlroy’s drought in golf’s major tournaments is due to ‘not taking initiative’ but Brandel Chamblee thinks it’s because his swing isn’t as good as it used to be

“It’s different for everyone. It’s hard to for me to compare my losses to his losses,” Schauffele said. “I would say his, he’s under a bit more of a microscope. When things are going really well people are all over him, and unfortunately when things don’t go your way people are all over him.

“So, there’s a microscope on him on why he didn’t win and things of that nature and he’s going to have to answer those questions at some point and he will, because he always does. So, for me, I wear them pretty hard, but sometimes it’s nice to just get back on the horse and compete.”

Nick Faldo and Wayne Riley were baffled by some of the decisions McIlroy was making towards the end of his final round of the US Open, which he lost by one shot to DeChambeau

Schauffele is coming off a T7 at the US Open, the seventh top 10 in the last eight individual starts for the world’s No 3-ranked player entering the final signature event of the year.

Schauffele also secured one of the four spots on Team USA for the Paris Olympics, where he will defend his gold medal come August.

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“It’s super special,” he said. “It’s always an honour to represent your country in any given tournament or event, so it was a really cool thing I was able to share with my family after winning the gold medal, and qualifying was my first goal this year. It’s a very hard team to qualify for, as you guys have seen on this US side.

“That was a really big goal of mine to get back and really looking forward to competing again.”

Watch Xander Schauffele at this week’s Travelers Championship, which you can watch live on Sky Sports Golf from Thursday at 5pm. Stream the PGA Tour, majors and more with NOW.

Rory McIlroy’s major heartbreak continues: How does he bounce back from US Open disappointment? | Golf News

Rory McIlroy’s major heartbreak continues: How does he bounce back from US Open disappointment? | Golf News


Former Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart reflects on how Rory McIlroy can recover from his major heartbreak at the US Open and Bryson DeChambeau’s dramatic victory at Pinehurst No 2…

This one will be difficult for McIlroy. For 67 holes he was looking about as assured as I’ve ever seen him over the past 10 years, since he won those two majors in 2014. He was looking confident, doing all the right things and looked like he was finally going to get that monkey off his back.

The drama that unfolded at the end was quite sickening for all McIlroy fans, friends, family and Rory himself. This will hit really, really hard because it looked like he had it in the bag and within about 40 minutes his dreams were destroyed.

Paul McGinley believes Rory McIlroy’s drought in golf’s major tournaments is due to ‘not taking initiative’ but Brandel Chamblee thinks it’s because his swing isn’t as good as it used to be

He’s gone on record in saying that the longer it goes on, the wait for the elusive major, it’s starting to feel like it was when he won his very first one. When he was young, he was bulletproof, and everything was coming easy to him in his career. It’s a different age and stage for him now.

For someone of his quality and his ability to admit that just shows just how tense he is feeling over these closing nine holes. Nobody wants to see anyone lose it like that.

Wayne Riley called it spot on in commentary when he questioned why he was hitting the driver off the tee at the last. It’s the most important shot of his week and potentially career-changing, but he had to find the fairway.

Sky Sports’ Wayne Riley and Dame Laura Davies analyse Rory McIlroy’s late collapse at the US Open and assess his ability to bounce back

There were only 13 bogeys on that hole all day, so it wasn’t the hardest hole if he found the fairway. For some reason he wanted to take driver, he obviously felt like that gave him the best opportunity and the rest is history.

How McIlroy responded to major heartbreak

I don’t think we can be critical of people not doing media after rounds like that. The emotions he has gone through, and the disappointment levels after throwing it away like that, are off the scale.

McIlroy watches on heartbroken as Bryson DeChambeau putts to win the US Open

It would have been very difficult to do any kind of composed reflection and answer any legitimate questions that the world’s media had at that time. He was absolutely sickened by what he had just done.

I think his head will be scrambled for quite some time. There are obviously things going on off the course that can’t be helping either, distractions there that he has spoken about, and it will take a while to get over it.

He has got the Travelers Championship this week, so it’s a case of getting back on the horse. It’s the final Signature Event of the season and he will peg it up there, which is maybe a good thing, but it isn’t a major. He could win by five and it wouldn’t take anything away from the sting and the pain that he is feeling about this one.

The longer it goes on, the harder this major is going to get. Yes, Royal Troon is just around the corner, but the pressure of trying to get that fifth major, getting out of this 10-year slump, right now just seems to be too much for McIlroy.


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DeChambeau embraces role as entertainer

That bunker shot at the 18th was off the charts and one of the best shots you will ever see to win a major championship in your life. There were so many things that could have gone wrong with that, never mind the pressure he was under.

I enjoyed seeing the celebrations and big reactions all week from Bryson. A lot of players are very calm and not very animated, but DeChambeau was all week and has been in the last three majors.

Bryson DeChambeau put on a show for the Sky Sports cameras as he celebrated his US Open victory with the fans at Pinehurst

He is really starting to get an incredible following and getting people onside. He really has embraced this role of the entertainer – he seems to be a lot more mature now and a much older head on those young shoulders.

He played incredible golf around a very dangerous golf course, and ultimately hit more of the right shots and holed the right putts when it mattered down the stretch. I thoroughly enjoyed everything he offered this week and he was a great champion.

The story of DeChambeau’s final round at the US Open which ended in a dramatic one-shot victory at Pinehurst No 2

The US players seem to have a bit of a monopoly on the majors right now and that trend might still be able to continue in The Open at Royal Troon. There’s no doubt this win will give DeChambeau plenty of confidence heading there, where he can try and get the second leg of the career Grand Slam.

There’s certainly more to come from DeChambeau’s locker, that’s for sure.

Watch Rory McIlroy in PGA Tour and DP World Tour action live this season on Sky Sports. The 152nd Open at Royal Troon is live from July 18-21 on Sky Sports Golf. Stream the PGA Tour, majors and more with NOW.