Rory McIlroy: ‘I feel I’ve been golf’s nearly man for the last three years’

Rory McIlroy believes the Ryder Cup and the Olympics are the best golf tournaments because players do not play for money and you see the sport in its purest form. 

NEARLY MAN: Rory McIlroy believes the Ryder Cup and the Olympics are the best golf tournaments because players do not play for money and you see the sport in its purest form. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Sheer sporting theatre. Under the golden Parisian sun at the formidable Le Golf National, the best players in the world served up a stunning final day of Olympic golf. The leaderboard gradually took its extraordinary shape, a powder keg of unbridled emotion that would blast six players to the most extreme of places.

For Rory McIlroy, that meant another botched shot down the stretch and deep dissatisfaction with being cast in the same tragic role.