‘He broke me!’ How Rory McIlroy’s US Open win changed the course of one major champ’s career

Padraig Harrington rolled up at Congressional in 2011 confident of leaving with a fourth major. Instead he was left to re-evaluate everything.

For 154 members of the field at the 2011 US Open, it was a case of just sitting back and accepting that they had been a part of a special moment in our beautiful sport’s history. For Padraig Harrington, it was a real eye-opener.

Just weeks after his infamous meltdown at Augusta had robbed him of not only a maiden major championship but a Masters title that still evades him today, McIlroy turned up at Congressional later leaving anyone with even a passing interest in golf wondering whether or not he could – or would ever – get over that crushing disappointment.

It didn’t take long to put any minds at rest. He promptly opened up a three-shot first-round lead. That became six shots at the halfway stage, then eight shots through 54 holes, which is how it remained at the end and McIlroy somehow still found the energy to lift that famous trophy into the dimming Maryland sky.

And although Harrington had fallen from third to outside the top 50 in the world rankings by the 2011 US Open, the Irishman was hardly a spent force at this point. Just three years prior, he had won the PGA Championship before becoming one of just a handful of players to successfully defend The Open with a second-straight Open win at Royal Birkdale.

Despite his brief OWGR slide, Harrington headed to Congressional high in confidence.

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Speaking on the Cookie Jar Golf podcast, he explained: “Rory broke me in 2011. [He] broke everybody.

“But I was the best player. That’s what I believed. I played a practice round with Adam Scott on the Wednesday. He came in and did an interview and told everybody to go home.

“He said, ‘You might as well go home, Padraig Harrington is winning this.’ In my head, I am the best player. I’ve won three majors just recently. I’m in great form. I prepared right.

“I go into this tournament and Rory does something that I can’t compete with. Wipes the floor, like we’re all the same. He’s just blown us all away.”

Harrington failed to break 70 that week and finished in a tie for 45th at 5-over-par, but that was the least of his worries. When Tiger Woods was destroying fields, Harrington felt like he had something to aspire to. Now he was well into his 30s.

“That’s OK if I thought I could get better,” Harrington explained. “When Tiger was doing that in the early 2000s, I was only on my way up. This is me at my best and I don’t think I can compete with [McIlroy].

“So the big difference, and it’s happened – name every player who has hit a peak – in 2008, I was not looking over my shoulder. I was only concerned about me. [From] 2011 onwards, I’m now thinking I’m not good enough. I need to be a better version of me in order to compete with Rory.”

Harrington missed the cut at that year’s Open, while he was nowhere near at the PGA Championship. But while he did bounce back with ties for 8th and 4th respectively at the Masters and US Open in 2012 – a year he describes as his “best stats-wise”, he would have to wait until 2021 for another major top 10. He did, though, add one more title on each of the PGA and European Tours.

And while McIlroy went on to win three more – two Wanamakers and a Claret Jug to move within a Green Jacket of the Grand Slam – he major drought has moved into an 11th year.