Surge came too late for rocky Rory

AMixeD bag of an Open championship for Rory Mcilroy, who had dressed for the occasion of yesterday’s final round like a liquorice allsort.

in black trousers and a bright yellow, collarless shirt he desperately tried to fire up the kind of challenge that would seriously rattle the leaders, even more so than they had been already.

Ultimately he could not manage it, and it was only on the 17th hole that we experienced the true Rory roar with a magnificent eagle that put him in touching distance of third place.

that was as close as he got, and so it becomes three years since he last won a major, something that would have looked unlikely when he reeled off back-to-back wins at the Open and USPgA in 2014.

he was not despondent after yesterday’s round, reasoning that greater players than him have been through fallow periods when the highest standards are applied.

And finishing on five under was hardly a disaster, having begun on thursday with six holes that yielded five bogeys.

‘One year without one major feels like too long. But these things happen,’ he said. ‘You look at Jack Nicklaus, he went through a stretch where he didn’t win a major in three years. i’m not comparing myself to Jack but it’s hard to win them.

‘it’s very hard. it’s the reason this generation, excluding tiger, no one’s got above five. We have a 20 or 30-year window of where we can. And i got off to a great start in my career. i’ve still got 15, 20 more years to add to that tally.

‘i feel like three years has been too long. But at the same time i’m not going to rush it, i’m not going to get impatient.’ given the year he has had, beset by rib injuries and recently missing three cuts out of four, this was unlikely to be the place where he ended a relative drought.

‘it was a step in the right direction,’ said Mcilroy (left). ‘Looking at what happened the last few weeks, it was obviously a lot better. But i saw that haotong Li finished at six under and i wanted to get level with him. i didn’t quite get there. i wish i could have had that start back.’

he was able to look optimistically at his forthcoming tournaments, which are happy hunting grounds, starting at the Bridgestone invitational early next month, prior to the USPgA at Quail hollow.

‘i’m excited for the next two weeks. Quail hollow, i’ve played well there. Shot a couple of course records, a couple of wins. got beaten in a play- off, as well. Another couple of top 10s thrown in there. i love the golf course.’