Rory McIlroy: Shinnecock Hills ‘won the war against me’ at US Open, world number two admits

World number two Rory McIlroy says the Shinnecock Hills course “won the war on me” after finishing six over par at the US Open.

Masters champion McIlroy carded a final round of 73 with three birdies and four bogeys as his bid for a second US Open title was scrapped.

The 37-year-old felt that a poor finish to his Saturday, in which he finished at level par – seven adrift of leader Wyndham Clarke after five bogeys – left him with a lot to do in the final round.

McIlroy told BBC Sport NI’s Gavin Andrews, “I think it (Shinecock Hills) has won the battle against me at the moment. Looking at the whole week, I’ll row the back nine yesterday (Saturday).”

“Yesterday after the nine I put myself two under and the wheels came off and I played a really bad back nine and shot myself out of the tournament, so I was really disappointed to walk off the course last night.

“You try to come in here today positively and put the energy in there to putt well and then (later) have a few bogeys on the front nine and I was trying to get to the 18th green.”

McIlroy will now focus on events closer to home and is relishing the chance to play links golf at the Scottish Open and The Open at Royal Birkdale in July.

“Playing the Open back home and spending some time back there is my favorite time of the year,” he added.

“It wasn’t too dissimilar to an Open Championship the way the golf course played over the weekend, but some links golf over the next few weeks will be nice.”