Should Rory McIlroy’s caddie have ‘stepped in’ at U.S. Open? Analyst says yes

Rory McIlroy missed from 3 ft, 9 inches away on the 18th gap throughout the U.S. Open’s last spherical. 

And from 2 ft, 6 inches away on the sixteenth gap.

But Smylie Kaufman additionally remembers a choice on the fifteenth gap, the place, had it been made in a different way, he believes McIlroy “could have taken control of the championship” that Bryson DeChambeau ended up successful. Instead, McIlroy hit 7-iron on the 205-yard par-3 at Pinehurst, his ball rolled off the again of the inexperienced and subsequent to a patch of native grass — and Kaufman is questioning if McIlroy’s caddie ought to have intervened. 

“I felt like Harry Diamond really should have stepped in on the 15th hole,” the on-course NBC analyst mentioned.

He was speaking on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar podcast, which you’ll watch in full here. He’d additionally been strolling with McIlroy final month throughout the Open, and Kaufman thought McIlroy ought to have hit an 8-iron on the championship’s 69th gap. 

“He did not have the right club in his hands,” Kaufman mentioned on the podcast. “And I felt like Rory might have taken management of the championship on 15 if he simply hits it in the course of the inexperienced. And he hit a very good shot. But it simply was the flawed membership. And by no means, by no means was a 7-iron for Rory. Especially with a proper flag. If the wind was down off the correct, it’s not precisely a flag and a wind situation and the warmth to have the ability to land it in a hula hoop, the place you bought to hit this sort of gentle, spinny, fade 7-iron. It was an 8-iron all day, hit it in the course of the inexperienced. 

“I would say that was a huge, huge mistake.”

After the tee shot, McIlroy managed a bump-and-run chip shot to 31 ft, and he missed the following putt to the left to begin a stretch that noticed him bogey three of his last 4 holes. On the podcast, Kaufman mentioned if “anything on that hole, short was where you wanted to leave it [with the tee shot].”

But what might Diamond have achieved there? That was requested by Subpar co-host Drew Stoltz. 

A dialog adopted amongst Kaufman, Stoltz and Colt Knost, one other Subpar co-host who additionally works as a CBS on-course analyst. It examined the McIlroy-Diamond dynamic, different player-caddie relationships and digestion of poor photographs. 

Said Kaufman: “To be fair, and I want to maybe ask Colt about this, too, it’s not unusual for Rory to kind of make all the decisions. I don’t really ever see Harry stepping in a ton. Rory always, if he has a question, he’ll ask, but for the most part, Rory kind of goes and does his thing and he’s got a lot of feel. I don’t know if you feel that way, too.” 

Said Knost: “Well, in my opinion, and this isn’t a knock on a lot of the caddies, but a lot of the caddies nowadays are much more vocal. You know, they’re on TV a lot more. And Harry’s very soft-spoken. I think he does give his opinion; it’s just not out loud for the boom mic to pick up like a lot of the other guys.” 

Said Kaufman: “Yeah, I didn’t pick anything up on 15, but …” 

Said Knost: “I think he is very soft-spoken and he’s not out there to be heard or anything like that. But he does give his opinion to Rory. Harry’s a great player, by the way. There’s a lot of criticisms. … Should he move on? And I was like, dude, Rory feels comfortable with his guy. It’s one of his best friends in the world, they’ve won together — I mean, it’s not Harry out there hitting the shots.” 

Said Kaufman: “I just think there was a wrong decision made, and when it comes down to one shot, which it did, there was one shot that …”

Said Stoltz: “The miss was in the wrong spot, I think is the bottom line. If you’re going to miss anything, if you’re in between, like we got to be short.” 

Said Kaufman: “In my head, as a participant, whenever you execute a shot precisely the way you’re purported to and it leads to a horrible spot, you have to look at, all proper, what occurred right here. Because that’s what occurred at the fifteenth gap. I do know Pinehurst, there’s numerous luck concerned. Maybe that ball doesn’t bounce as arduous and it stays in that fairway reduce and he chips up and makes a bogey anyhow. OK, that’s effective. 

“I think I’m talking about it because of where the golf ball ended up, that when a pro hits a good shot and ends up in a bad place, you got to have to question the club and the decision.”

Editor’s word: To watch your complete Subpar episode, please click here or scroll beneath. 

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his function, he’s chargeable for enhancing, writing and growing tales throughout the golf house. And when he’s not writing about methods to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native might be taking part in the sport, hitting the ball left, proper and quick, and ingesting a chilly beer to clean away his rating. You can attain out to him about any of those matters — his tales, his recreation or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.