Rory McIlroy suffered a second near-miss in the space of the week, having missed out in a playoff at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth against Billy Horschel
Rory McIlroy was once again left frustrated on Sunday, after the Northern Irishman finished runner-up for the second-successive week following the final round of the BMW PGA Championship.
McIlroy fell to Billy Horschel following a tense playoff at Wentworth, as the American holed a lengthy putt for eagle to be crowned champion in front of the Surrey crowd. Whilst it was all smiles for Horschel, the same could not be said for McIlroy, who was forced to settle for second again.
The four-time major champion fell to the same fate a week earlier, finishing second to Rasmus Hojgaard in front of a home crowd at the Irish Open at Royal County Down.
It was another near-miss for McIlroy, who notoriously fell to an agonising loss at the US Open in June. While he remained positive about the game in the aftermath of his final round in Surrey on Sunday, McIlroy admitted that failing to get over the line was beginning to take its toll.
“Look, it’s golf and I’m playing well,” he said. “These things happen. It’s just the game is testing me a little more than it has done in the past but that’s fine. All I can do is keep showing up and trying to play the golf that I’ve been playing and sooner or later it’s going to end up in a win.
“The nice thing is there’s next year and the year after and the year after and the year after. If you think of my career as a 30-year journey, it’s only one year in a 30-year journey, and hopefully the other 29 are a little more productive or a little bit better. I have certainly had years where I’ve felt worse.”
Rory McIlroy failed to get over the line ( Image: Getty Images)
McIlroy went on to address the number of Sunday chances he has given up this campaign, but is hoping there will be a turn in results soon enough. “When you get yourself in contention so much, inevitably you’re going to have disappointments,” the 35-year-old added.
“Unfortunately I’m just getting a little too used to feeling what it’s like when you do and hopefully that tide will turn.” McIlroy will have time to look over his back-to-back near-misses this week, having booked in some time off this week, before returning for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the beginning of October.
The week in Scotland will prove to be a special one for the world No. 3, who will get the chance to tee it up in the Pro-Am event alongside his dad Gerry. The McIlroy duo will compete against a star-studded field, with a whole host of his Ryder Cup teammates on the entry list. Defending champion, Matt Fitzpatrick will compete, as well as Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry.
Elsewhere one of his long-time rivals Brooks Koepka is also in the field, with last weekend’s champion Billy Horschel also set to tee it up across St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.
