Jon Rahm came to the defense of Rory McIlroy after the (still) four-time major winner missed two 4-foot or less par putts en route to losing the U.S. Open to Bryson DeChambeau.
The Spaniard had to withdraw from last week’s major due to a foot infection, leaving him with plenty of time to watch NBC’s broadcast from Pinehurst.
“I thought it was quite a show from the comfort of my home,” said Rahm on Wednesday, ahead of the LIV Golf Nashville tournament.
“It’s a very enjoyable tournament to watch. I haven’t gotten the chance to enjoy a major from start to finish like that and to get to see a lot of golf was really fun, and to see how everything unfolded.”
McIlroy was up by one shot with just three holes to play but incredibly missed two short par putts, leading to a pair of bogeys, over his final three holes, including a gut punch of a dropped shot on 18.
Social media users have piled on McIlroy by the way of memes and trolling. Even so-called experts say the Northern Irishman “choked” away his best chance to win a major since 2014.
But Rahm does not agree and believes DeChambeau won the tournament with one of the best shots of all time.
“You never want to see great players make a mistake at the end, whether it was Bryson’s three-putt on 15 or Rory’s on 16, said Rahm.
“But I do consider that Bryson might have, that I could remember — if it’s not the best up-and-down to win a major ever made, it’s got to be top 3, maybe up there with Tom Watson’s chip-in at Pebble on 16, Phil’s up-and-down at Baltusrol on 18. There’s obviously going to be a few others like Tiger’s chip-in at Augusta.
“But on 18, having to do it to actually win the tournament has got to be one of the best, and with how he played on Sunday, I thought he showed a lot, and how much he’s changed himself in the last few years and to hear him talk about it was quite inspiring.”
The Spaniard also felt that the NBC crew downplayed how difficult McIlroy’s par putt was on 18.
“One of the things that absolutely burned me, and I think it was Smylie (Kaufmann) who said it – he severely underplayed how difficult Rory’s putt on 18 was,” said Rahm.
“When he said it’s a left-center putt, if you hit that putt left-center and miss the hole, you’re off the green because of how much slope there is. You could see Rory aiming at least a cup left from three feet. They severely underplayed how difficult that putt was. Severely.”
Rahm, who was sidelined for both LIV Golf Houston and the U.S. Open, is expected to tee it up this week in Music City.
“I’m feeling good. I’m feeling good,” said Rahm. “The main reason for the withdrawal the two events was the infection I had and just to be precautionary towards not making it worse and seeing what steps I can take to prevent that from happening in the future.
The wound is still there. I’m not going to show any graphic pictures, but it’s still there. It’s manageable now. I’m not going to really make it worse. A lot of things to follow up from what happened to make sure it heals properly and it doesn’t happen again.
The tournament gets underway at The Grove on Friday with shotgun start at 12:30 pm EST.
