Spieth and McIlroy wave goodbye to their US Open aspirations

THE look on Jordan Spieth’s face said it all after he bogeyed the final hole to miss the cut by one stroke at the US Open.

Not since he threw away the 2016 US Masters has the Texan looked as distraught on a golf course.

Appearing close to tears, he stood quietly on the side of the green and waited for Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy to finish putting at Shinnecock Hills.

McIlroy also missed the cut, but the Northern Irishman had already accepted his fate, unlike Spieth, who made a brilliant comeback with four straight birdies from the 13th hole, only to bogey the final two.

He was a little unlucky at the last, where his approach shot trickled into some gnarly rough some 40 feet above the hole, from where he fluffed his delicate chip that trickled down to within 11 feet of the cup.

He could not convert the downhill putt, missing his first cut at a Major since the 2014 PGA Championship.

In 13 Majors from the start of 2015, he had three wins, two seconds, a third and a fourth, the runner-up finish at the US Masters two years ago the biggest disappointment in that run.

He had a quadruple-bogey at the 12th hole in the final round at Augusta National on that occasion.

Spieth had nothing to say after his round on Friday after his stellar Major run came to a screeching halt, but McIlroy was more loquacious.

McIlroy found his game too late to advance to the weekend, bowing out early for a third straight US Open, but did not sound too shattered by his latest experience.

“I think I was just blown away by the wind yesterday,” McIlroy said of his opening 80, his worst score at a US Open.

“I haven’t played in wind like that for quite a long time. I just felt like I couldn’t hit it far enough left or right to allow for the wind.

“Today I hit 17 out of 18 greens. I did a lot of good stuff.

“Yesterday I just wish I could have maybe just had one day to prepare for something like that. I feel like it would have been a different story.” — Reuters