Rory McIlroy hurled a club and smashed a tee marker but somehow, for all his anger, he was able to extend his stay at the US Open on Friday night.
Whether there will be any satisfaction in prolonging this experience is a matter of conjecture, because the world No 2 has spent much of the week looking like he would rather be anywhere else.
The clearest signs of his frustrations came in two episodes on the back nine as he grinded his way to a 72, leaving him on six over par, one inside the projected cut line.
The first of those flashpoints came on the 12th, when he hooked his second shot at the par five into deep rough and proceeded to send his iron cartwheeling up the fairway. It travelled on a far straighter course than his ball, to be fair.
The next outburst was more egregious. That came at the 17th, a driveable par four, when he took aim with a three wood and sliced into the greenside bunker. In his fury, he slammed his club against the tee marker and shattered it.
If there is an irony to be found, it is that such a tantrum prompted a strong response. He escaped from the penultimate hole with a par and then, with his weekend still in jeopardy, he was able to birdie the last after a 125-yard approach to four feet.
Rory McIlroy finished one shot inside the cut line after a nasty round at the US Open on Friday
The world No 2 lost his cool on the 12th hole, launching his club in the air after miscuing a shot
It was a good close to a nasty round, which commenced with a double-bogey six on the first after driving into sand, and got tougher when he repeated the pattern on the third. Another bunker, another trudge in the wrong direction.
Birdies at the ninth and 15th were the only highlights before the flourish on the 18th. Given his mood this week, not to mention his difficulties off the tee, it is perhaps a surprise that he has another two rounds in which to find form.
In his favour is the fact that this tournament has become a demolition derby. Other than Sam Burns’s quite exquisite 65, carrying the American to the clubhouse lead on three under, most have left the course battered and bruised.
At the top of the leaderboard, JJ Spaun slipped from four under to two under with a 72, Brooks Koepka drifted to two over after a 74 and Viktor Hovland had an uplifting 68 to sit one behind burns. Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau was the highest profile casualty, shooting 77 to finish 10 over after 36 holes.
Scottie Scheffler? His 71 left him four over and included a four-putt on the 17th. Jon Rahm is on the same mark after a 75. The Spaniard’s rage spoke to the challenge of Oakmont, with the undertone that the test has been set at an excessive level, even for a tournament that relishes its brief as the knee-capper of elite golfers.
Rahm said: ‘Honestly, I’m too annoyed and too mad right now to think about any perspective. Very frustrated.
‘Very few rounds of golf I played in my life where I think I hit good putts and they didn’t sniff the hole, so it’s frustrating.’
There will need to be an element of personal accountability in there – it wasn’t the landscape alone that meant the former world No 1 missed six putts between five and 10 feet in the compilation of four bogeys and a double.
Several players, including Jon Rahm, were left deeply frustrated by the conditions at Oakmont
But how many times in this major have we had scenes like those involving Rahm on the 11th? That was where he hit a good-looking chip from off the green and watched on mortified as it simply refused to stop rolling down the slope.
They take great pride here in having quicker putting surfaces than Augusta National but there is a conversation to be had around fairness when a decent shot from 23 feet away is followed by one from 30. Likewise, the entertainment value in watching golfers hacking out sideways from the rough.
Scheffler wrapped up his round with a candid admission: ‘There was some times today where you feel like you could give up.’
He was later seen ranting and gesturing in a lengthy session on the driving range. Minds and tee boxes are being splintered here.
