Rory McIlroy admitted frustration had got the better of him as he damaged one of his clubs in the final round at Merion.
At the par-four 11th, McIlroy drove into the water before hitting his approach to the green into the creek. The two-time Major winner then leant on the offending iron so hard that he bent the shaft out of shape.
That meant he could not use the club for the rest of the round as he ran up a quadruple-bogey eight on the hole and a closing 76 to finish 14 over par.
“I just hit a bad tee shot into the creek there and what you don’t want to do as a golfer is follow one mistake with another one, and that’s what I did,” said McIlroy, who won his first Major at the 2011 US Open at Congressional in Bethesda.
“Obviously I got a bit frustrated there. It’s a hole that you want to try to take advantage of. It’s a hole that you want to at least give yourself a birdie chance and you walk off with a quad and it’s not very good.
“I think that’s what this tournament does to you. At one point or another it has got the better of you, and it definitely did this weekend.”
