Rory McIlroy is looking for a bounce-back at the U.S. Open after a pair of very disappointing tournaments.
After completing the career Grand Slam at The Masters in April, McIlroy understandably had a bit of a letdown. He barely made the cut at the PGA Championship, finishing T-47. Then, a meltdown at the RBC Canadian Open saw him finish in 149th before missing the cut, a new career-worst finish.
Now, McIlroy will have to find a rhythm at the toughest tournament to do just that. Oakmont Country Club is ready to give the pros their biggest test of the year at the U.S. Open, and bad form isn’t a good sign coming in.
However, McIlroy has thrived at the U.S. Open over the years. He won the tournament back in 2011 at Congressional and has finished in the top 10 in each of the last six years.
This time around, the five-time major champion has a chance to tie Ben Hogan and two others with a record seven-straight top 10s at the U.S. Open, according to The Athletic’s Justin Ray.
McIlroy will come into this tournament with some scar tissue after back-to-back second place U.S. Open finishes.
The Northern Irishman fell short to Wyndham Clark in 2023 at Los Angeles Country Club before a heartbreaking loss to Bryson DeChambeau at Pinehurst a year ago.
Still, McIlroy’s track record of contending for this title shows that he knows his way around a difficult golf course. He will need all of that skill and experience this week while dealing with the sloped greens and dense rough at Oakmont.
If he can find the rhythm he was in earlier in the season, when he won three tournaments before the halfway point in April, McIlroy is certainly one of the favorites to get a win. His last two starts were his only two finishes outside the top 20 of the year, so the consistency has been there in 2025.
Part of that may be due to the controversy around his driver. McIlroy’s driver failed a test ahead of the PGA Championship and was deemed non-conforming, causing him to switch clubs just before the event.
The 36-year old has also mentioned a lack of motivation following his win at Augusta as a cause for the slump.
The U.S. Open provides him with another chance to remove himself from all of that and settle back into being one of the world’s top players.
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