Rory McIlroy’s US Open surge disappeared fast Saturday as a brutal back-nine 40 at Shinnecock Hills left him at 3 over and likely out of contention.
Rory McIlroy looked ready to storm into the US Open conversation Saturday at Shinnecock Hills. Then the back nine punched back.
The Masters champion briefly had the crowd buzzing after a three-hole birdie burst on Nos. 5, 6 and 7, highlighted by a massive 66-foot putt that seemed to flip the energy of his third round.
McIlroy turned in 33, climbed into the top 10 for a moment, and suddenly looked like a real weekend threat ... Then everything unraveled.
McIlroy played the back nine in 40, made five bogeys, and signed for a 3-over 73 that left him at 3 over for the tournament.
In a U.S. Open setup that punishes even tiny mistakes, that kind of closing stretch may have effectively ended his chances.
The collapse started at No. 10, where McIlroy was sitting in the fairway just 49 yards from the hole.
Instead of setting up a realistic birdie look or easy par, his approach bounced onto the green and rolled away into trouble.
It was the second straight day he wasted a prime scoring chance from inside 100 yards on that hole.
From there, the frustration piled up. McIlroy bogeyed No. 12, then added more damage on Nos. 14, 15 and 18.
What had looked like a charge became another Shinnecock survival story.
The painful part is that McIlroy had said after Friday’s round that he believed he was still close, as long as he cleaned up the mistakes and picked off a few birdies.
For seven holes on Saturday, that plan looked alive. By the time he walked off 18, it looked buried.
McIlroy quickly left the property after the round, cutting through fans on his way to the car after a day that shifted from promise to disaster in less than two hours.
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