Rory McIlroy bizarrely catches strays from US presidential election debate after being reminded of US Open misery

Rory McIlroy is no stranger to scrutiny, but even he didn’t expect to be a topic of conversation in the US presidential election coverage.

The golf star was an unlikely topic of conversation on ABC’s ‘This Week with George Stephanopoulos’ in which the pundits were discussing Kamala Harris’ recent appearance on The View.

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Reince Priebus, a former White House Chief of Staff under Donald Trump, was criticising democratic candidate Harris and said: “She wanted to clarify the two most important issues that are facing these two candidates – the US economy and immigration.

“She bombed like Rory at the US Open and said that there would be nothing that she would do that would be different to Joe Biden.”

Priebus was referencing McIlroy’s disastrous outing at the US Open in which he held a two-stroke lead with five holes to go, only to card three bogeys across the final five holes.

As a result, Bryson DeChambeau swooped in and claimed the major crown.

Responding to the clip of the McIlroy’s name being included in ABC’s coverage, one fan wrote: “Included in this video is one of the wilder strays I’ve ever seen directed at Rory McIlroy.”

A second said: “Rory McIlroy just caught an unnecessary / awesome stray.”

A third fan wrote: “Rory McIlroy catching strays while political pundits talk about Kamala Harris’ failures with the media.”

“We’ve reached a point in the election cycle where even Rory McIlroy is catching strays, a fourth said.”

Missing out on the US Open title was undoubtedly one of the most disappointing days in McIlroy’s career, something that was clear as he took to social media after the event.

He said: “Yesterday was a tough day, probably the toughest I’ve had in my nearly 17 years as a professional golfer.

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“Firstly, I’d like to congratulate Bryson. He is a worthy champion and exactly what professional golf needs right now. I think we can all agree on that.

“As I reflect on my week, I’ll rue a few things over the course of the tournament, mostly the 2 missed putts on 16 and 18 on the final day. But, as I always try to do, I’ll look at the positives of the week that far outweigh the negatives. 

“As I said at the start of the tournament, I feel closer to winning my next major championship than I ever have.

“T”he one word that I would describe my career as is resilient. I’ve shown my resilience over and over again in the last 17 years and I will again.”

A four-time major winner, McIlroy will be keen to add to his tally before long after 10 years without a major win.