Rory McIlroy is back. He had a lot to say about his fall at Pinehurst

GULLANE, Scotland – Everything was different the last time we saw Rory McIlroy. It was just three weeks ago, but it was hot then, in the parking lot of Pinehurst. It’s the American summer everyone was sweating, but the four-hole frenzy got us all moving. McIlroy dropped from two shots to one at the US Open. He wasn’t interested in talking about it.

When McIlroy walked into the Renaissance Clubhouse on Tuesday afternoon, it was 54 degrees and raining on the sidelines. When locals in Scotland complain about the weather, that’s when you know it’s bad. McIlroy was smiling, though. He was happy to see his travel friends again. He gives hugs to his teammates on the DP World Tour. Practicing putting on his rain gear. It’s amazing what a few weeks can do for your mind.

Instead of getting all of McIlroy’s thoughts right after another major past — something he was quickly criticized for — we got them all on Wednesday morning at the Genesis Scottish Open. And there were many. McIlroy took the first question on the tee and ran for 2 minutes, 28 seconds, one thought flowing into the next, a reminder that this defeat was layered.

“I think the way I described Pinehurst on Sunday was like it was a good day until it wasn’t,” he began. “I did things that Sunday that I haven’t been able to do for the past few years. He took control of the golf tournament. The putts are holed when I need them. Well, especially when I need to. Made birdies. You know, I really put myself in there. And then, look, it’s obviously unfortunate to miss those last two putts, or the putt on 16 and obviously the putt on 18.

“Yes, it was a difficult day. It was difficult for a few days after that, obviously. But I think as you get further away from what happened, you start to see the good and you start to see all the good things you’ve done throughout the week.

“Yes, you are learning something there, too, of course. I clearly remember starting to feel uncomfortable waiting for my second putt on 16, and you know, the last putt, it was a really tricky putt. And I knew exactly where Bryson was. I knew I had to hit it hard. If the guy in the back didn’t care, I would have hit it hard.

But because I was in two minds, I didn’t even know Bryson [Dechambeau] it was going to make par or not, it was one of those times where I had to make sure that if the putt didn’t go in, it didn’t go 10 feet, which it easily could have.

“Looking back, yes, I probably didn’t know where Bryson was and what he was doing but it was just the nature of the golf course and the way the golf flowed. After the 14th tee, he’s looking at the 13th green, and I had to wait for my tee shot on the 15th before he hit, or you know, to let him hit his second shot on the 14th. it flows, it just lets me know exactly what you’re doing at the same time. So it took me out of my little world a little bit.

“But no, I mean, looking back on that day, like looking back on some of the hardest times in my career, I’ll learn a lot from it and hopefully I’ll put that to good use.” It’s something that has been a bit of a theme throughout my career. I was able to take those hard times and do good things soon after.”

One answer, 436 words, all kinds of context. The place where he started to feel uncomfortable? That’s gold. That bit about being more aware of DeChambeau’s position? We may not have heard that if McIlroy was forced to explain everything at Pinehurst.

Instead, McIlroy flew home that Sunday night in his private jet. The speed with which he was born in the air broke his brain. He withdrew from the Travelers Championship but took a scheduled trip to New York City for a few days. He walked the High Line, Manhattan’s famous west side, high street, which is often crowded with tourists. Few people know him. He made a few phone calls. He liked it.

Meanwhile, dogs were out in the world of criticism. People online and in the press room were upset McIlroy didn’t answer questions that night. They were upset that he did not congratulate DeChambeau. They made a bunch of McIlroy’s car kicking a few rocks as he went. They called him to throw away his card and were disappointed when he left the event he would have played if he had finished, say, T8. His sharpest critics pointed out that Pinehurst champion Bryson DeChambeau faced the frustration of a solo second-place finish at Valhalla’s PGA Championship in May, and handled it well. He met Xander Schauffele with a congratulatory handshake and then answered 13 different questions about it, all confidently and beaming.

But these two men and those two situations are so different that they are not worthy of comparison. DeChambeau finished second after a raucous 64. McIlroy finished second by missing putts made by all the winners. DeChambeau won the big points four years ago. The last McIlroy came 10 years ago. DeChambeau walked away with a reported $125 million contract from LIV Golf, but has largely disappeared from the golfing public’s conscience – sitting in front of the media has been a treat for him this year. McIlroy has never enjoyed the huge sums of money that have divided the professional game and has instead sat in front of the media, through good times and bad.

He held a press conference the day after the PGA Tour made him “the sacrificial lamb.” He sat down for a Q&A at the Los Angeles Country Club, after finishing second in the ’23 US Open, promising to “get through 100 Sundays like this to get me into another major.” He stopped to ask himself 13 questions after a painful loss in St. Andrews in 2022, but he immediately retreated into his wife’s arms. He did an on-course interview after a devastating Sunday 80 at the 2011 Masters. Turns out, McIlroy has talked more than most other tour pros — about 50 times in official scrums this season alone — so in one of the most difficult moments of his golf career, he wanted to leave.

He has no regrets.

“No offense, you guys didn’t bother me that much at the time,” McIlroy said on Wednesday. He laughed because it was true. After all, McIlroy’s sunken face as he watched DeChambeau finish, inside the golf club at Pinehurst, is the image that says it all anyway.

If he finds himself in the same situation next week, across the country at The Open Championship in Troon, McIlroy said his approach would not be much different. His pre-shoot process was a little longer in North Carolina – he’d like to keep that consistency. He would like to live in his “little world” slowly, not let the stakes eat away at his mind. He thinks he got impatient on the 16th hole, and he’ll hurt the short that he missed there more than he did on the 18th. The latter was complicated, a fact that many experts have confirmed in the days and weeks since. He will remember the sight, standing on the 18th green, seeing DeChambeau pull his drive left, when for a second he thought his competition might make bogey.

What does that tell us? That mentality of McIlroy was everywhere. And that it was not resolved quickly. The unfortunate truth for disgruntled fans and members of the media about these throwback pieces is that they don’t come quickly. They take time.