McIlroy needs putting revival for ‘spectacular’ finish

"It gets into your head a little bit and then I start to make tentative strokes."

Rory McIlroy did not need to see the US Open field's putting statistics to tell him that performance on the greens at Chambers Bay has been a telling factor in this championship's outcome.

For all the criticism the putting surfaces on this linksy course have attracted, from their splotchy appearance to the inconsistent roll caused by the infiltration of poa annua on the slower growing fine fescue greens, those who have successfully negotiated them have risen to the top of the leaderboard.