Rory McIlroy has decided to take three weeks off to recover from what he called the toughest day of his career, when he let victory slip through his fingers at the U.S. Open.
McIlroy will therefore miss the Travelers Championship, the last tournament on the PGA calendar with a purse of 20 million, a limited list of participants and no ax after two rounds.
“I have demonstrated resilience time and time again over the past 17 years and I will do so again,” McIlroy wrote in a social media post Monday.
McIlroy twice held a one-shot lead at Pinehurst before making three bogeys in his last four holes. He notably missed short putts, at 16e hole, then at 18e hole.
Bryson DeChambeau took the opportunity to triumph with a sensational par at 18e hole, thanks to a nice exit from the sand trap and a short putt. McIlroy became the first golfer since Jim Furyk in 2006 and 2007 to lose by one stroke at the U.S. Open in back-to-back years.
He was so distraught after seeing DeChambeau snatch the victory from the scorer’s room that he quickly emptied his locker and then left the golf club.
He didn’t take the time to congratulate DeChambeau, which is usually the tradition for golfers who played in the winner’s previous group.
McIlroy ultimately praised DeChambeau in his post. He also admitted that he regretted the two missed short putts, but was trying to focus on the positives.
“As I said before the tournament started, I think I have never been closer to winning another major title,” he wrote.
McIlroy hasn’t won a major tournament since the British Open in 2014, when he was 25. He has since played 29 major tournaments without triumph.