The Longshot: Payne over pain for Rory as years and short putts roll by

CHEERING on the person we haven’t backed is a rare enough occurrence. We outlined here last week the reasons we ended up shouting for Carlos Alcazar as he overcame our tip Alexander Zverev in the French Open tennis final.

We didn’t expect the same thing to happen for a second weekend in a row at the US Open at Pinehurst, but there we were urging Rory McIlroy to sink his putts and Bryson Dechambeau to miss his.

There was some solace in having tipped the American to win at 20/1 (and recommended third-placed Tony Finau as an each-way shout), but not much.

“That’s pain right there, baby,” Dechambeau told the camera as he walked off the 18th green a two-time US Open champion, referring to the nightmare of Rory McIlroy missing two tiddling putts in the final three holes to throw away a two-shot lead and the opportunity to add a fifth major, a decade since his last one. Except, of course, Bryson was pointing to a badge on his hat that honoured Payne Stewart. He had referenced all week that if he won the tournament, it would be for the man from his alma mater of the Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The man who won the US Open at the same course 25 years ago. And died in a plane crash a few months later.

In fairness to Dechambeau, he brings a bit of Stewart colour, energy and razzmatazz to proceedings, and if Rory had not been the one handing him the tournament on a plate, you would not begrudge someone quite as annoying as he is winning (especially when you have a tenner on him). I wouldn’t have been surprised had it gone to a playoff that Dechambeau would have pulled his socks above his tros and tried to summon the plus-fours spirit of Stewart to help him over the line. But he didn’t need to.

If it was ‘Paynehurst’ for the man who put a lot of effort into a charm offensive with the media and the fans the whole week (was he intentionally sailing each drive into scrubland so he could fist-bump fans?), it was ‘Painhurts’ for the Down man, who was whisked off the course without uttering a word to the media. It’s hard to imagine how distraught he is at leaving this one slip, but his face on the 18th green and in the scorecard-g tent afterwards gave a glimpse.

It still seems unlikely, but there is now a definite chance McIlroy will never win another major.

He is 20 shots better than every other player in final rounds of majors since 2015. But the reason for this is he has usually played himself out of contention on the Saturday and doesn’t get a chance to test his bottle.

He is 8/1 to win the British Open at Royal Troon next month, but despite showing great bouncebackability in his career, it really is hard to see the scar tissue having been healed by then.

You would also have to question will he even turn up at the Travelers Championship signature PGA event this week, where he is 7/1 second favourite behind Scottie Scheffler on 7/2.

Keegan Bradley won this event 12 months ago and the man whose great grandparents hailed from Ballycotton is 50/1 entering this one. Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg, Collin Morikawa, and Max Homa will also be among the leading contenders. USPGA winner Xander Schauffele won two years ago and is 15/2.

His best friend Patrick Cantlay was in contention finishing tied-third in the US Open, considering he is in good form and the pressure will be less intense this weekend, I fancy him at 25/1.

In 2011, while a college golfer from UCLA, he set a course record at TPC River Highlands of 10-under 60, the lowest round ever shot on the PGA Tour by an amateur.

Expect low scores then as Jim Furyk broke that record in 2016 when he fired a 58!

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ONE benefit to having a gripping US Open final round to watch was that it meant we got to skip the turgid England-Serbia tussle.

Gareth Southgate’s men have slipped out to 4/1 from 3/1 to be outright winners of a tournament for the first time since 1966, and that might have something to do with decent opening performances by hosts and Spain.

We did get to check England out in highlights and they looked fairly wobbly in the second half and may have to rely on Jude Bellingham’s sheer force of will to drag them through the tournament, or they could try giving the ball to Harry Kane a bit more.

The side we plumped for to win it outright last week before the tournament began are in action this afternoon.

We suggested Cristiano Ronaldo might bag a hat-trick in their warm-up against us, but he only managed two.

That Gancalo Ramos didn’t even come on as a sub in that game suggests Roberto Martinez will be fully backing CR7 as his spearhead and 12/1 on him to pick up the Golden Boot is certainly worth noticing.

They are in what looks like a very easy group and take on an underappreciated Czech Republic first.

If Patrik Schick can find some more of the goal-scoring form he displayed at Euro 2020 when he finished the tournament t leading goalscorer (5) with Ronny, they have a good chance of qualifying from Group F.

The Bayer Leverkusen striker returned from a long injury lay-off midway through the season and finished the campaign with 12 goals. Portugal are priced at 1/2 to win, while the Czech Republic are 6/1 and the draw is 10/3.

Bruno Fernandes comes into the tournament in fine form as he finished the Premier League season with seven goals and four assists in Man United’s final nine games of the season and then scored a brace in Portugal’s friendly with Finland at the start of June and is not a bad shout to score first at 7/1.

The evening game sees Turkey take on debutants Georgia and a draw here could be on the cards. Turkey lost to Poland recently and they’ve had no wins over their last four matches (and lost six of their last seven European Championship matches) and were defeated 6-1 away to Austria in March, so Georgia can enter this one with some confidence.

They are managed by the 2/1 favourite to be the next Ireland boss, former French international Willy Sagnol, and the tournament could be a showpiece to show us what he’s got to offer.

Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is the standout player for the Georgians and is 16/5 to get on the scoresheet.

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ANYONE who is on too many WhatsApp groups they don’t care about will have been inundated with Scottish memes during and after the opening game of the tournament. Would you not even feel sorry for them?

They meet Switzerland tomorrow in an attempt to get back on track and try to qualify for the knockout stages of a tournament for the first time in their history.

(The main thing I took from the opening game was just how much French referee Clement Turpin looks like Arsenal and Belgium player Leandro Trossard.) Scotland need something from this game, even if it’s just a draw at 11/4 and then try and take Hungary the next day.

The Swiss side’s opening game could hardly have gone any better as they looked superior to Hungary in all facets of the game. Scotland’s last ever win at a tournament actually came against the Swiss when they defeated them 1-0 at Euro 96. It’s 3/1 they can do so again.

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TO SET up a chance to stop Limerick doing a five-in-a-row and more importantly try to end a near two-decade wait to lift Liam, Cork must overcome Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-finals next Saturday (not Sunday, despite some work to change fixtures by the GAA).

Offaly were dispatched last Saturday and now it is Thurles to take on the team well-beaten by Kilkenny in the Leinster final.

Both the Rebels and the Cats are 5/1 to win the All-Ireland but considering how Limerick beat Kilkenny in the past two finals, you would think that Pat Ryan’s sides have a better (if still slim) chance of getting one over their northern neighbours.

Charleville’s Darragh Fitzgibbon is 10/1 to be hurler of the year and it is the inverse of 1/10 they get over the Dubs hurdle.

The Bet

WE’LL stick to golf after picking a winner last week and go for Patrick Cantlay to continue his form and summon up his 2011 experience and win the Travelers Championship at 25/1.