Inches make all the difference for Rory McIlroy as Open slips away

Rory McIlroy had been waiting seven years, 11 months, eight days for this opportunity, ever since he won his fourth major at Valhalla in 2014. And in the end all that time turned on one moment, at 6.30pm on the 17th green of the Old Course at St Andrews.

Way ahead of him, up the 18th fairway, Cameron Smith was standing over a two-foot putt that would take him to 20 under for the championship. McIlroy, two shots back from that, knew he needed to finish with back-to-back birdies to match him, and take the 150th Open into a playoff.

McIlroy had just hit the most brilliant shot to give himself this chance, a nine iron from 160 yards that settled down on the back lip of the green where, if it had bounced only another dozen inches, it would have slipped down on to the road that gives this famous hole its name. But it didn’t. So now he was facing this 15ft putt, tens of thousands of fans in the stands around him, hundreds of thousands listening on the radio, millions watching on TV, all hanging on this one stroke. The ball rolled up to the cup, an inch to its left, and three feet beyond it.

The crowd sighed, McIlroy sagged.

McIlroy did not lose this Open so much as he had it taken from him by Smith, whose supernatural play around the back nine swept McIlroy’s lead away from underneath his feet. It was like watching the tide close in on the sandcastles the day-trippers had left on West Sands beach.

But the how of it will not matter to McIlroy now, who will have to reconcile himself to yet another near-miss. He has had eight top‑five finishes in majors since Valhalla. In the end the record will show he finished third here, as Smith’s partner, Cameron Young, made an eagle putt on the 18th to finish at 19 under, while McIlroy blew