SOUTHAMPTON, NY – It’s proven virtually impossible to exist at this US Open without thinking about the last time Shinnecock Hills hosted one, in 2018. The stream shows photos of it. The USGA has been crammed so as not to fail another exam. Even the best players in the world have images of that week painted on the walls of their brains, almost a decade later.
“(Today) was a day to really stick to the tournament and not get out of it,” Rory McIlroy said, “which is exactly what I did eight years ago here.”
Shinnecock is less a COUNTRY and more one IDEA for McIlroy, who drove the ball around him in 69 on Thursday. Shinnecock was the last US Open venue to put it in a locker. The last test of conscientious, tough, US Open golf he couldn’t handle.
In 2018, McIlroy not only missed the cut, he failed to break 80 in the first round, bombing out of the cut before making the turn. He ended that year journaling on a private jet, writing a promise to himself that he would build his game to “excel in the toughest tests we have.”
That meant saying goodbye to the old Rory – the one who hit high, striking draws everywhere. One who played so aggressively that his game teetered on the edge at times, slipping at times. The one that showed up at the 2018 Travelers Championship, a week after the last Shinnecock Open, and suddenly felt comfortable again. He shot a 64 in that first round at Hartford and finished the week tied for 12th, but a part of him had to hate it.
“I remember feeling very much in my comfort zone going into TPC River Highlands,” McIlroy said, “and thinking to myself, I have this backwards. I should be in my comfort zone at Shinnecock and not here.“
It sounds dramatic, but in a way, yes, McIlroy has been building this week for eight years. And building towards next year’s US Open at Pebble Beach, too. He has become a top-level shooter, which was a bugaboo at the time. He’s added more shots to his bag — like low, drop or saw-off drivers, sharp irons that cut through the wind — not just the ones that flex so comfortably from right to left. On Thursday, amid a brisk morning on a firm course, it was some of those shots that actually led to bogeys on his final two holes, sliding him from three under and the lead to one. But he knows one thing: those shots are the right shots. They worked in the last two Masters tournaments. They have given him six US Open top 10s in the past seven years.
“It didn’t feel like I went and rebuilt my game,” McIlroy said, “but I feel like that in terms of how I approach the game and the value I place on certain shots and certain skills within the game.”
Every piece of information mentioned above — the 30,000-foot diary over the Middle East, the Traveler quotes, the idea of fly shots he once considered silly — all came out in a flowing response during McIlroy’s post-round press conference on Thursday. You can tell he’s told that story before. You can say it’s his truth. And if you’ve been watching McIlroy closely over the past 14 months, you can connect the dots between him and his biggest desires.
As a means of internal inspiration, McIlroy followed his Grand Slam career by describing, very specifically, exact tournaments he wants to win. He wants an Olympic medal (and will have to wait patiently for another two years). He wants to win an open championship in St. Louis. Andrews (which could happen next summer). And he wants better stamps in his US Open passport.
“Maybe a US Open on one of those, like, old, traditional golf courses,” he told the BBC in January. “Whether it’s Shinnecock this year, Winged Foot, Pebble, Merion.”
If this sounds like McIlroy is writing a script, it would make sense. More than any other professional, his career has followed the arc of a three-act drama—the four early majors, the decade of none, and this third act of near-constant strife. That would make Shinnecock in 2018 a much-needed break of sorts. The kind that makes a lot more sense when the show crescendoes at the end.
