Rory McIlroy was visibly frustrated as he produced his worst US Open performance since 2018 - Warren Little/Getty Images

Rory McIlroy’s frustration boiled over here at the 126th US Open as his challenge for a second major win of the season failed to materialise.

The last time the Northern Irishman played competitively on Long Island was the Ryder Cup last September, when he became the target for the American boo brigade who in vile language told him he was not welcome on their New York strip of land.

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Nine months on and McIlroy was beseeching himself to leave town. “F------ hell, just go home Rory,” he shouted after finding the bunker from the middle of the fairway on the third hole. It was one of those days. Starting on three over, he also dropped shots on the second and the fifth, sending him to six over. At this point it was dispiriting to think that after seven holes of his third round he was two under and looking up.

Alas, in the ensuing 16 holes, McIlroy was eight over and on his way to a six-over total, his worst performance in the US Open in eight years since he missed the cut here when Shinnecock last staged America’s national championship.

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McIlroy, who eventually fired a second successive 73, was not the only European getting hot under the collar. Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre finished runner-up in last year’s US Open, but he came outside the top 30 on seven over. And his anger also overflowed in a final-round 70. On the 11th, MacIntyre felt compelled to speak to an official.

“I said to him ‘look, at the Open Championship, they tell you how much firmer the golf course has got’,” MacIntyre said. “Here, they told us they were going to syringe the greens the first two days.

“I mean, most weeks you don’t know how firm it is, but these golf courses can change in an absolute heartbeat. For instance, I hit an eight-iron into the 17th hole, coming down out the left, and it stopped within two yards. I’ve hit a nine-iron into 11 and it’s bounced twice on the green and went over the green. I mean, it’s only getting firmer on that 11th green.

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“Yeah, I was p----d off and thought I am going to go and ask the question. I don’t normally do that, but I just thought ‘you know what, I am going to ask him why’. He just gave me the answer I thought I was going to get, to be honest. But I was kind of venting a little bit.

“I mean, the minute this goes out I am going to get bad rep for it, but they’ve put different amounts of water on each green. They have different softness. I mean, Chris [Gotterup, his playing partner] has hit a beautiful shot right behind me into 11 and it’s taken one hop and run off the green.

“I’ve watched mine from the tee and it’s taken two bounces then gone over the green. Four holes prior, I’m standing on the seventh tee and I’m watching Joaquin Niemann hit into the second hole and he’s pitched it round about the pin and spun it off the front of the green. Come on.”

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Robert MacIntyre endured a frustrating final round at Shinnecock Hills - Christian Petersen/Getty Images

MacIntyre was one of many bemoaning the what-could-have-beens. “I’ve been playing well and I should be right in the golf tournament, to be honest,” he said. “With four holes to go on Friday, I was right where I wanted to be on level par. Then, after 36 holes, I’m sitting there going ‘well, I should be going home now’.

“After thinking we did some good work in Canada [finishing joint-15th at TPC Toronto], I felt I came here and controlled the golf ball well. Yeah, just had a real problem with three or four holes there on Friday and that’s put me out of the golf tournament.”

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MacIntyre’s Ryder Cup team-mate Tyrrell Hatton loves to vent, but there was no need as the Englishman shot a 67 to finish on one over. Niemann was on the same mark, after launching a remarkable recovery from making the entirely wrong sort of history on the opening day. The Chilean threw a club in fury on his way to a nine on the par-four sixth and this was upgraded to an 11 when he was hit with a two-shot penalty by officials.

The LIV golfer had fallen foul of the new major conduct policy and so became the first player to be sanctioned in such a manner for a misdemeanour. The 27-year-old took it well and responded to that 78 in the correct manner by first shooting a 65 to make the cut and then finishing with a 66.

For the onlookers it was irresistible not to consider where he would be on the leaderboard if he had made a par and not a septuple-bogey, but Niemann had a nice line about this pointless mathematics. “If my grandmother had tyres, she’d be a car,” he said, before expanding on his display.

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“I played great. I was talking with Pete [Cowen] and we saw Tommy [Fleetwood] had put in a 63 in the clubhouse early on the last time this was played here. So I was focusing on trying to hit 63. I ended up just short, but really happy with the round today.”