Rory McIlroy choke explained by sports psychologist as he skips £3.1m payday

Rory McIlroy 's internal thoughts before his missed putts may have caused him to collapse at the US Open.

That's according to Jon Adler, a sports psychologist and golf performance coach, who discussed the Northern Irishman's choke on The Sports Agents podcast which resulted in Bryson DeChambeau securing his second US Open title.

McIlroy, 35, was inches away from his first major win in 10 years at Pinehurst last week as he led the American by two strokes with just five holes left to play. Unfortunately for the four-time major winner, critical misses on short putts in the 16th and 18th greens saw the momentum shift to DeChambeau in a thrilling final round of the tournament.

Following the crushing runner-up finish, McIlroy opted out of competing in the Travelers Championship this week despite a winners' payday of £3.1million as Adler explained what may have been behind his US Open collapse.

"Rory would have thought 'I can't miss this, you better not miss this', that little voice in your head, that's not the problem, when you think you shouldn't be having those thoughts, now I'm anxious because I'm anxious, I've got double the anxiety," he said.

"It's about accepting that I'm going to be anxious, accepting the thoughts when they come in but you deciding actually I'm not going to react to my worrying mind, I'm going to do something I've practiced over and over [again]."

Rory McIlroy is taking a break from the game after his U.S. Open heartbreak

McIlroy's putting blunders saw him receive compassion from Jon Rahm who sounded off on the pesky green at the Pinehurst course. "I think it was Smylie [Kaufman] who said it, he severely underplayed how difficult Rory's putt on 18 was," the 2023 Masters champion said.

"When he said it's a left-center putt, if you hit that putt left-center and miss the hole, you're off the green because of how much slope there is. You could see Rory aiming for at least a cup left from three feet. They severely underplayed how difficult that putt was.

"I think that can happen a few times where unless you've been there on the golf course and you're playing it or you've played it, it's hard to truly explain how difficult the golf course can be."