BROOKLINE, Mass. — In some ways, Rory McIlroy has been chasing his 25-year-old self for the last eight years. He's 33 now without a major championship since that summer he turned 25. He won two that season to match the two he already possessed yet has come up empty over the the subsequent 81 months.
On Saturday at the 2022 U.S. Open, McIlroy will be up against three iterations of that former self as he tries to jump-start his major championship career.
Colin Morikawa (age 25), Scottie Scheffler (25) and Jon Rahm (27) have four majors combined, the same number as the now-elder statesman of their sport. Morikawa is one stroke up on McIlroy with Rahm tied alongside the Ulsterman and Scheffler one back. They have Rory surrounded.
McIlroy nearly kicked away this U.S. Open before it really got good. After shooting 67 and sitting one shot back Thursday, he co-led by the time his second round started Friday. Rory started par-par, but disaster on No. 3 led to a 25-foot putt for double bogey, which he buried.