Editorial: He might have choked again on the brink of victory, but Rory McIlroy is nonetheless a sporting great

Rory McIlroy has had a worse meltdown than the one that he experienced at the US Open on Sunday when he suddenly threw away a two-shot lead.

​In April 2011, the golfing star from Holywood in Co Down was far into the lead going into the last day of the US Masters, and seemed to be cruising to his first major tournament victory.

After three excellent rounds at Augusta that left him a hefty four shots in front of his rivals, and then a tolerable first nine holes on the final day that kept him just ahead, McIlroy had a meltdown on the inbound nine.

It was a disastrous performance that, observers feared, might damage the then 21-year-old’s confidence for the rest of his career. Instead of that happening, McIlroy had within weeks become one of the youngest ever winners of the US Open, a year after his fellow Ulsterman Graeme McDowell had picked up the same trophy. But what was striking about that US Open triumph was that it was a mere eight weeks after the Masters collapse yet he maintained a similar three-round lead at the US Open and then extended his lead in the last round, rather than threw it away.

McIlroy is persistent, and tough. He had what might with hindsight seem to the misfortune of massive, early success: winning four majors between 2011 and 2014, when so young. Other geniuses, George Best and Boris Becker among them, have reached the heights of their sport in their teens or early 20s and been unable to maintain it.

But McIlroy, while he hasn’t won one of golf’s four majors in a decade, has stayed near the pinnacle of the game, and has had a top five finish in at least one of those tournaments in all but two of the years since. He has now been runner-up three times in two years, despite now being well into his 30s. McIlroy failing to congratulate his victor Bryson DeChambeau on Sunday was poor form, yet he remains a great competitor.