Too little, too late — Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, other top players finish U.S. Open strong

If only this U.S. Open was a one-round, Sunday-only event, perhaps it could have proved a showdown of some of the biggest names in golf.

Instead, some of the world’s best players — the ones who didn’t miss the cut, at least — wrapped up their weekend at Oakmont playing their best golf of the tournament. Many might have been wondering, “what if?” — as in, what if they had played as well all weekend as they did in the final round.

“If I had four days like I did today,” world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said after Sunday’s rain-drenched final round, “I think it would have been a different story.”

World #1 Scottie Scheffler on shooting a good round Sunday but too little too late to win this US Open pic.twitter.com/c8NkEJpBZv

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) June 15, 2025

Scheffler joined Nos. 2, 3 and 4 in the world rankings — Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa, respectively — as well as former Masters champions Jon Rahm, Hideki Matsuyama and Patrick Reed as recognizable names who closed out the 125th U.S Open with their best (or in Morikawa’s case, tied for their best) personal rounds of the tournament.

“It’s crazy,” said Rahm, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, “because it doesn’t feel like I played that different (Sunday compared) to every other round.”

The numbers tell a different story after Rahm birdied the final three holes to finish with a 67 that tied McIlroy for the low score Sunday.

At least for Rahm, he’d put up a red number at one point earlier this week (he was tied for fifth after a 1-under 69 Thursday). McIlroy’s frustration was palpable throughout the tournament as he entered Sunday’s final round tied for 49th at 10-over. His 3-under Sunday was five shots better than any round he’d previously shot this week.

“It was nice to end this week with a bit of a positive note with the way I played today,” said McIlroy, who finished a career grand slam by winning the Masters in April. “And yeah, I’ll just be looking forward to and trying to get myself prepared for Portrush (site of the British Open next month).”

Matsuyama — currently No. 9 in the world rankings — also had by far his best round at Oakmont on Sunday. After carding 74, 73 and 77, respectively, over the first three rounds, the 2021 Masters champion bogeyed only once all round in shooting 68 Sunday. That tied with tournament runner-up Robert MacIntyre for the third-best final-round score.

Two-time major winner Schauffele was 3-under for Sunday’s round through 13 until consecutive bogeys limited him to 69. Still, that was one of only seven under-par rounds Sunday — as well as Schauffele’s lone sub-par round of the tournament.

Morikawa — who, like Schauffele, has PGA and British Open championships on his resume — joined Scheffler as one of four who shot an even-par 70 in the final round. Morikawa was an aggregate plus-8 on Friday and Saturday. Also shooting 70 for his best round of the weekend was Reed, one of the headliners of the LIV tour.

While none of the top six on the final leaderboard had previously won a major — J.J. Spaun, of course, changed that with his victory — Rahm and Scheffler were part of a group that tied for seventh, with Schauffele not far behind and McIlroy and Morikawa as other multi-time major champions who finished among the top 25. Each closed out with his best round of the weekend.

More Scottie Scheffler on shooting even-par 70 Sunday to get him into the top 10 of the 125th US Open pic.twitter.com/5eb92BpWAO

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) June 15, 2025

“The first three days, I was battling the whole time. Today, I hit some shots,” Scheffler said.

“My main takeaway about how I did this week was that I was very proud mentally with how I was over the course of four days. I did a lot of things out there that can really break a week, and I never really got that kind of one good break that can kind of propel you. I hit it this far off; seemingly every time I did, I was punished pretty severely for it.”