The astonishing stat that shows how painful Rory McIlroy's US Open collapse was... as Nick Faldo admits his capitulation will 'haunt him for the rest of his life'

An astonishing statistic has emerged in the wake of Rory McIlroy's collapse at the US Open after he threw away a commanding position to lose out to Bryson DeChambeau by a single shot.

McIlroy was two shots clear of the American with five holes to play at Pinehurst on Sunday, but hit three bogeys across the final four holes to surrender his advantage.

The major turning point came on the 16th hole when he missed a putt from just over two feet. He then followed that up by faltering from fewer than four feet on the last hole as he failed to even take the contest to a play-off.

It has now been revealed that McIlroy had attempted 496 putts from inside three feet in 2024, and successfully made all 496.

But it all went wrong for him at the worst possible moment, as the wait for his fifth major goes on. 

His last triumph came at the PGA Championship in August 2014, meaning he has now gone 10 years without winning one of golf's biggest events.

Sir Nick Faldo, a six-time major winner himself, was on commentary for Sky Sports, and admitted McIlroy will struggle to get over his capitulation.

'That's going to haunt Rory for the rest of his life, those two misses,' he said.

'It was an unbelievable finish. That was a four of all fours to finish from Bryson and the celebration of all celebrations! Rory will be broken-hearted, so I feel for him. He's going to be gutted, absolutely gutted.'

Faldo's thoughts were echoed by some fans who labelled McIlroy's failure to win as 'the biggest choke in the history of golf', while claiming 'I don't know how he can recover from this'.

McIlroy's near-miss came at the end of the week where he performed a stunning U-turn and ended divorce proceedings against his wife, Erica Stoll.

McIlroy filed for divorce from Stoll last month after seven years of marriage, but his attorney, Thomas Sasser, filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal on his client's behalf in Palm Beach County Courthouse last Tuesday.

The Northern Irishman will get one final shot in 2024 to win his fifth major at The Open next month.

This year's 152nd edition of the tournament will be held at Royal Troon in Scotland from July 18-21.