Rory McIlroy Succumbs to Oakmont as He Fails to Replicate Wet-Course Brilliance

It didn’t take hours, minutes or much more than a moment before the knowing nods began at Oakmont Country Club on Thursday morning.

Rory McIlroy, who has routinely turned wet major championship courses into personal pincushions over the years, grabbed a long iron on the first tee and yanked his opening shot toward a fairway bunker. Instead of trickling into the deep sand, however, the errant shot stopped in the light rough, slowed by the wet turf and torrential rain that blew through Oakmont, Pennsylvania, the night before the U.S. Open.

On a day in which three delays wrecked any shred of momentum, McIlroy never mounted a threat and was stuck at four-over when the weather horn sounded for the final time, leaving him marooned on the 14th hole.

Thunderstorms ravaged the area most of the day and flood warnings were posted, but the kid who made a career of eviscerating sopping major-championship courses saw his red numbers decline to a veritable trickle.

Soakmont fought back. He mustered one birdie and finished his abbreviated day with bogeys on Nos. 12 and 13, just to send him home with a worse taste in his mouth.

David Cannon/Getty Images

No question, when most saw the dire weather forecast for the first round—which prompted visions of animals lining up in pairs and boarding a wooden boat—McIlroy moved to the front of the favorites line. After all, history underscores that the slipperier the better works best for McIlroy, 27.

In his first two major victories, he shredded the field by eight strokes to win both the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional and 2012 PGA Championship at Kiawah. Rain slammed both events, prompting major delays. 

In 2014, conditions were sloppy at Royal Liverpool, too, where he cruised into the final round with a six-stroke lead at the British Open and won by two.

Given the weather projections, cracks about McIlroy furtively worshipping the rain gods were easy. Caddie J.P. Fitzgerald provided some comedic fodder, per the Golf Channel's Paul McGinley.

Andrew Redington/Getty Images

From the outset, despite the charitable bounce on his first swipe of the day, McIlroy was on his heels. He conservatively used a 2-iron off the first three tees, trying to keep the ball in the fairway, and thrice missed the short grass.

Even two lengthy front-nine weather delays—totaling three hours, 45 minutes—failed to provide enough time to find the reset button. After the second delay, which lasted 2:27, McIlroy missed from six feet for birdie at the 11th and then butchered the par-five 12th, spraying his third shot into the gallery and making another bogey.

It was the continuation of a forgettable season for the former No. 1, whose lone victory in 2016 came last month at the Irish Open, where only two other players from the world top 30 entered. Indeed, McIlroy’s last victory against a deep field came last fall in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai finale.

Golf Channel's Justin Ray noted some dubious history for McIlroy:

McIlroy told reporters the soft conditions wouldn’t make much difference on a course with Oakmont's tough reputation. It turns out he was wrong. At one point, unheralded American pro Andrew Landry was five-under and threatening the record U.S. Open score of 63, which Johnny Miller set at Oakmont in 1973.

Landry, ranked No. 624 in the world and a 500-1 shot this week in Las Vegas, per Odds Shark, was at three-under when the horn sounded for the final time, seven shots clear of McIlroy and atop the leaderboard.

While McIlroy hadn’t piled up multiple victories this season, he’d played steadily enough, finishing in the top 12 in his last six starts, just enough to engender optimism among his global fanbase.

McIlroy even allowed himself to dream about what winning on such a traditionally penal course might mean for his resume.

"Majors that I have won have been soft and under par, and that more suits my style of game,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “But to win on a course like this with the conditions the way they are, it would probably be ... my biggest accomplishment in the game.

It would "definitely make me feel more like a complete player, I guess."

Instead, as play halted with McIlroy still five holes from finishing, he likely felt more like a guy with no rudder, caught in Oakmont’s one-day riptide.

PGA Tour veteran Joe Ogilvie, working this week as a TV analyst for Fox, provided some comedic relief:

"

Just spotted on the Pennsylvania Turnpike...spectators leaving Oakmont. pic.twitter.com/9MuHac98Jw

— Joe Ogilvie (@ogilviej) June 16, 2016"

He might just as well have tweeted a shot of McIlroy and his playing partners, Rickie Fowler and reigning Masters champ Danny Willett, who were in the same boat at a combined 10-over.

With conditions expected to improve Friday and over the weekend, per Accuweather.com, let's not forget Rory is still Rory. He's good enough to turn things around and make a run toward the top of the leaderboard. But there's no doubt, one of his biggest advantages to claim his second U.S. Open title may have already come and gone.  

Steve Elling covers golf for Bleacher Report. You can follow him at @EllingYelling