Five days before the U.S. Open at Oakmont. That’s when Rory McIlroy hit rock bottom. For the first time since The Open Championship last July, McIlroy missed the cut at a PGA Tour event. But this wasn’t just any early exit—this was a crash landing.
A 71-78 collapse, losing over 10 strokes to the field, McIlroy posted the worst 36-hole finish of his PGA Tour career. He finished 149th among 153 players. That is truly remarkable.
Golf can be cruel, but when equipment fails, pressure mounts, and public scrutiny collides? That’s a whole different level of brutal.
Back in April, Rory McIlroy won the 2025 Masters with a commanding performance, securing what was supposed to be his biggest momentum boost yet.
But instead of riding that wave, his game spiraled.
At the PGA Championship, McIlroy lost control off the tee, hitting only 10 of 28 fairways—not a good accuracy rate in the field.
His approach game was just as rough, ranking 65th in Strokes Gained: Approach and 69th in proximity to the hole.
The result? A frustrated McIlroy, who even made the situation worse for himself after skipping the media.
And if this was not enough, McIlroy thought he had found a fix before the RBC Canadian Open.
With his trusted TaylorMade Qi10 driver failing USGA testing at Quail Hollow, he switched to the new Qi35—hoping it would solve his off-the-tee struggles.
It did not.
I have 1,118 rounds on Rory McIlroy in my database.Today’s 78 lost him -8.471 strokes to the field. It’s the second worst round of his career behind R2 of the 2013 Northwestern Mutual World Challenge. pic.twitter.com/cy74DByS3h
— Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood) June 6, 2025
“Still, I felt like I came here obviously with a new driver thinking that that sort of thing was going to be good and solve some of the problems off the tee, but it didn’t,” McIlroy admitted after his disastrous 8-over 78 on Friday.
His round included one quadruple bogey, a double bogey, eight bogeys, and five birdies.
“Yeah, of course it concerns me. You don’t want to shoot high scores like the one I did today,” he said, frustration dripping from his words.
And now, with Oakmont looming, McIlroy knows exactly what’s at stake.
“Obviously going to Oakmont next week, what you need to do more than anything else there is hit fairways,” he stressed.
This led to fans questioning his Masters win
As if missing the cut wasn’t bad enough, McIlroy now finds himself at the center of golf’s latest backlash.
“Rory obviously won the Masters with an illegal driver. Need to have an asterisk by his name in the Grand Slam record books,” one fan posted, setting off a wave of debate – if his Masters win was fair.
Another responded, “I agree, why isn’t there more of an uproar over that?”
That was not the end, others piled up saying: “It’s hard to play well when you use legal clubs.” and “Glad it was the first time this season I threw down on him…”
Some even used GIFs to mock his low point in Toronto.
Rory McIlroy’s effort at the RBC Canadian Open. pic.twitter.com/meSZ3eFaCr
— Chris (@Chris2Buckets) June 6, 2025
McIlroy knows this isn’t just about fixing a swing—it’s about recovering mentally, and finding his footing before golf’s toughest test.
“Still sort of searching for the missing piece off the tee,” he admitted. “Obviously for me, when I get that part of the game clicking, then everything falls into place for me. Right now that isn’t.”
The U.S. Open demands perfection, and McIlroy is running out of time.
With just five days to figure it out, what do you think? Will McIlroy be able to fight the dark clouds?
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