Rory McIlroy caressed a medal with a scintillating back-nine charge only to watch his hopes sink in a greenside lake at the 15th as he finished tied fifth behind a sensational world number one Scottie Scheffler in the Men’s Olympic Golf Competition in Paris.
Tied for sixth overnight, four shots behind leaders Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele, the Holywood star turned for home seven shots behind the Spaniard but surged to within a shot of the lead with five birdies in a row from the 10th.
His medal dreams ended at the 401-yard 15th, however, when he spun his 140-yard approach back into a lake and took three to get down from 49 yards, running up a double-bogey six.
He’d par his last three holes, but his closing 66 left him tied fifth on 15-under with Jon Rahm, who had a four-shot lead with eight holes to play before imploding by coming home in four-over 39 for a 70.
They ended up four shots behind Scheffler, who carded a sensational course-record-matching nine-under 62, starting with three birdies before roaring home in six-under 29 to win gold by a shot from Tommy Fleetwood (66) on 19-under.
McIlroy’s playing partner, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (65) took the bronze by a shot from Victor France’s Perez (63) on 17-under.
It was a thrilling final round and a brilliant advertisement for Olympic golf as the biggest names in the game went toe to toe down the stretch.
“I got on a run on the back nine and any medal was possible then,” McIlroy told RTÉ Sport. “When I turned I was six behind. I was 14 under par after 11, and Jon Rahm had got to 20 (under), so I didn’t really think I had a chance at gold.
“And then everything sort of started to happen pretty quickly. I actually played okay; I played good on the way in but that one wedge shot on 15, honestly I hit the shot that I wanted to hit
“I just didn’t get it up in the air enough to have the wind carry it that extra two or three yards onto the green.
“But you know it’s been an incredible week and I obviously could go out there today (and give it a go), and you know, unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.”
How it unfolded
McIlroy began the day just three outside the medal places and got the fast start he needed with two birdies in his first three holes, rolling in a 20-footer at the first before two-putting from 45 feet at the par-five third to move to within two shots of the lead.
The birdies dried up, however, and after struggling for par at the par-five ninth, he turned for home in eighth place on 12-under.
He was seven shots adrift of Rahm, who turned in five-under 31 to lead by three from Fleetwood and by four from Matsuyama and Schauffele.
The Holywood star needed a low back nine to have a chance of a podium finish and immediately birdied the first three holes coming home, ripping a wedge back to three feet at the 10th before rolling in a 15-footer at the 11th and sticking a 165-yard approach to around a foot at the 12th to move into a tie for fourth on 15-under.
He was just two shots outside the top three and only a shot outside bronze but there was more to come.
Rahm moved four clear on Matsuyama and Fleetwood on 20-under after a birdie at the 10th. But he three-putted the 11th to reduce his lead to two over the Englishman.
The top five were covered by just four shots, but soon, the gap covering the top four was just two.
Rahm bogeyed the 12th as Fleetwood made birdie to tie for the lead on 18-under, leaving them one ahead of Matsuyama and only two clear of McIlroy, who birdied the 13th from 15 feet to move into solo fourth on 16-under, just a shot outside the medals.
Perez joined McIlroy on 16-under when he lipped in for a two at the 16th to go eight-under for the day and six-under for the back nine.
World No. 1 Scheffler then birdied the 14th to join McIlroy and Perez in a tie for fourth as Schauffele slipped out of the picture with back-to-back bogeys at the 12th and 13th, leaving him seventh on 15-under.
Moving to the par-five 14th, McIlroy drilled a 331-yard drive down the middle and found the middle of the green in two and two putted from 50 feet for his fifth birdie in a row to tie for third on 17-under with playing partner Matsuyama, who couldn’t get up and down for birdie from greenside rough.
The Holywood star was just a shot behind leaders Rahm and Fleetwood, and he and Matsuyama were soon joined in a tie for third by Scheffler, who birdied the 15th.
But his medal run came to a devastating halt at the 15th, where he spun his 140-yard approach back into the water, then hit his 46-yard fourth from the drop zone 50 feet past the hole and made a double bogey six to slip to tied sixth on 15-under, two shots outside third and three behind the leaders Rahm and Fleetwood.
Scheffler then birdied the 16th to tie for the lead with Fleetwood on 18-under as Rahm made a double bogey seven — taking four to get up and down from just left of the green) to fall back to tied fourth with Perez on 16-under.
Scheffler then took the tournament by the scruff of the neck, gouging his approach from heavy rough to 17 feet at the 17th before making the birdie putt to go nine-under for the day and lead by a shot from Fleetwood on 19-under.
Fleetwood drew level with a birdie at the 16th as Scheffler muscled a 180-yard approach from heavy rough at the last to 30 feet at two-putted for a 62 to set the target at 19-under.
Rahm birdied the 16th to move into a tie for third with Matsuyama, who shot 65, one 17-under.
But both he and Fleetwood bogeyed the 17th, leaving them needing birdies at the 18th to keep their medal hopes alive.
Fleetwood needed a three to match Scheffler and Rahm a birdie to force a playoff with Matsuyama for bronze. In the end, Fleetwood made four to take silver, but Rahm bogeyed, three-putting from 60 feet to end a forgettable afternoon.
As for Shane Lowry, his hopes of making an unlikely final-day charge for a medal faded straight away when he found water with his approach to the first from the right rough and made a double-bogey six.
But the Offaly man did not let his head go down at a venue where he had made the cut just three times in six Open de France appearances.
He birdied the sixth, 10th, 11th and 13th to get back to seven-under for the tournament but bogeys at the 16th and 18th saw him sign for a level par 71 and a tie for 26th on five-under.
“Yeah, look, you’re trying to shoot a really low score, and you start like that, it’s pretty deflating,” Lowry said. “I fought back well. But you know, ultimately, my damage was done all the first two days.
“I was going out playing for pride today. I tried my best. It was nice to bounce back, and the finish is obviously disappointing enough, but so be it. That’s the way it is.”
