Rory McIlroy is hoping to learn from his near-miss at the U.S. Open as he looks to get his season back on track following that agonising day at Pinehurst. (More Sports News)
McIlroy capitulated late on in the last round at U.S. Open last month, allowing Bryson DeChambeau to capitalise and clinch the title.
It has been a decade since McIlroy won the last of his four majors, but the Northern Irishman will hope to end that run at The Open next week.
First, McIlroy will defend his title at the Scottish Open, and speaking to the press ahead of that tournament, he said he will "learn a lot" from that U.S. Open heartbreak.
"I look back on that day, just like I look back on some of my toughest moments in my career," McIlroy said.
"I'll learn a lot from it and I'll hopefully put that to good use.
"It's something that's been a bit of a theme throughout my career. I've been able to take those tough moments and turn them into great things not very long after that.
"I think the way I've described Pinehurst on Sunday was like it was a great day until it wasn't.
"I did things on that Sunday that I haven't been able to do in the last couple years.
"Yeah, it was a tough day. It was a tough few days after that, obviously.
"But I think as you get further away from it happening, you start to see the positives and you start to see all the good things that you did throughout the week."
McIlroy took a short break away from the game after the U.S. Open, but he is now raring to go.
"I had some good chats with people close to me," he said.
"As you start to think about not just Sunday at Pinehurst but the whole way throughout the week, there was a couple of things that I noticed I wanted to try to work on coming into here and obviously next week at Troon.
"They were hard but at the same time, as each day went by, it became easier to focus on the positives and then to think about the future instead of what had just happened."
