Former PGA Tour pro Smylie Kaufman believes an earlier mistake by Rory McIlroy’s caddie Harry Diamond was as damaging as his late collapse at the US Open. McIlroy is preparing to return to action at the Scottish Open next week but will no doubt still be recovering from his nightmare on the second hole at Pinehurst.
The 35-year-old was close to ending a decade-long wait for a fifth major when he missed two short-range putts in the closing moments: a 2-foot-6 putt on his 70th hole and a 3-foot-9 putt on his 72nd.
This caused him to fall one stroke short, giving Bryson DeChambeau the US Open title and kicking off an ongoing investigation into what went wrong.
As McIlroy prepares to defend his Scottish Open title at the Renaissance Club before competing in The Open at Royal Troon, Kaufman has reflected on his disastrous last outing.
Instead of focusing on his missed putts, the NBC analyst highlighted the Northern Irishman’s missed putt on the par-3 15th hole as another key reason for his defeat.
McIlroy went long, hitting the difficult chip shot to about 30 feet before missing his putt, leading to his costly final loss.
Diamond has been accused of allowing him to use the wrong club, adding to recent criticism of the caddie’s ability to help McIlroy cross the finish line, including from DP World Tour star Eddie Pepperell.
Kaufman told GOLF’s Subpar podcast: “I felt like (caddie) Harry Diamond really should have stepped in on the 15th hole.
“He didn’t have the right club in his hands. And I felt like Rory could have taken control of the championship on 15 if he had hit the hole in the middle of the green.”
“And he hit a good shot, but it wasn’t the right club. And Rory never, ever used a 7 iron, especially with the right flag.
“If the wind was light from the right, it’s not exactly a flag and the wind and heat conditions make it necessary to be able to land in a hula hoop, where you have to hit this kind of soft, spin and fade 7 iron.
“It was an 8-iron all day. I hit it into the middle of the green. I’d say that was a huge mistake. I never see Harry stepping on it much.
“Rory always, if he has a question, he asks it, but in general, Rory goes and does his thing, and he has a lot of feeling.
“In my opinion, as a player, when you play a shot exactly the way you’re supposed to and it ends up in a terrible place, you have to look at what happened here. Because that’s what happened on the 15th hole.”
McIlroy met Diamond at his hometown of Holywood Golf Club and named him his new caddie in 2017, replacing JP Fitzgerald.
Diamond’s predecessor was alongside McIlroy in all four of his major tournaments before the pair split.
