Paige Spiranac gives Rory McIlroy verdict on his hasty US Open escape after throwing victory away with the tournament at his mercy

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Paige Spiranac shared her thoughts on Rory McIlroy's exit from Pinehurst after letting the US Open title slip from his grasp in the closing moments.

After collapsing in the final holes and losing to Bryson DeChambeau, the Northern Irishman quickly vacated the premises, refusing any interviews and media interactions.

Reposting a video of McIlroy's vehicle driving away from the course, the golf influencer sided with the PGA Tour star as fans reacted to his response to the loss.

'Hot take but I don't care when athletes do this,' Spiranac wrote. 'He gave us everything he had on the course and gave us such an entertaining day.

'I feel for Rory right now and can't even imagine how he's feeling,' she continued. 'Cut him a break.'

Paige Spiranac sympathized with Rory McIlroy after quickly leaving Pinehurst on Sunday

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The agonizing loss saw McIlroy let another major title escape as his title drought inches toward the ten-year mark. McIlroy's last major win came in August 2014 at the PGA Championship.

With the tournament at his mercy and leading by two shots with five holes to play, McIlroy crumpled at the finish with bogeys on three of his final four holes, including a heart-breaker at the 18th.

McIlroy uncharacteristically missed from two feet and six inches for par on the 16th and less than four feet on the 18th to suffer another heartbreaking end in a winless decade.

The Northern Irishman did not hang around to speak to the media and was pictured by golf reporter Jason Sobel packing his clubs into a car after DeChambeau secured the victory.

McIlroy did not hang around to talk to the media after a disastrous finish to the US Open

McIlroy was a picture of devastation after throwing the US Open away on Sunday

McIlroy pictured leaving the 18th green in shock after missing a second straightforward putt

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Additionally, footage emerged of a devastated McIlroy watching DeChambeau wrap up glory in the clubhouse. It was an ending that may be considered more painful than the 2011 Masters implosion.

Starting the day three shots behind DeChambeau, McIlroy made the ideal start with a birdie from 20 feet on the first and found himself just a shot behind when DeChambeau bogeyed the fourth.

McIlroy was two shots ahead by the time he was walking to the 14th tee. The 'Rory' chants grew louder and DeChambeau could hear them.

McIlroy took bogey from behind the 15th green, but he stayed one ahead when DeChambeau, playing in the group behind him, had his first three-putt of the week on the 15th when he missed from 4 feet.

And that's where the U.S. Open took an agonizing turn for McIlroy. He missed a 30-inch par putt on the 16th hole to fall back into a tie. On the 18th, McIlroy's tee shot landed behind a notorious wiregrass bush. He blasted out short of the green and pitched beautifully to 4 feet. And he missed again.

Bryson DeChambeau secured the victory as McIlroy's decade-long drought continues

DeChambeau dedicated his second US Open victory to his late father who died in 2022

McIlroy was watching from the scoring room as DeChambeau escaped from an awful lie left of the fairway - a tree in his back swing, a root in front of the golf ball - and punched it out into the bunker.

He expertly blasted a shot from the soft sand that rolled out on the crispy green to set up the winning putt.

'For him to miss that putt (on 18), I would never wish that on anybody,' DeChambeau said after a final round of 71 left him six under par, a shot ahead of McIlroy and two clear of Patrick Cantlay and Tony Finau.

'I think that fire in him is only going to continue to grow. He's going to win more major championships.

'I have nothing but respect for how he plays the game of golf because, to be honest, when he was climbing up the leaderboard, he was two ahead, I was like, Uh-oh, uh-oh. But luckily things went my way.'