The inquest continues into Rory McIlroy's disastrous final round at the US Open, and it will likely continue right up until next month's Open Championship.
Having waited a decade for the elusive fifth major, McIlroy finally looked set to break his duck on Sunday evening, with the Northern Irishman two shots ahead of Bryson DeChambeau entering the final few holes of his final round.
Things quickly began to unravel in astonishing fashion for the 35-year-old, as he bogeyed three of the last four holes - including two missed putts within five feet - to ultimately come up short by one shot to his American rival.
For a neutral, it was one of the most riveting conclusions to a major in recent memory. For fans of McIlroy, a more devastating end was scarcely imaginable.
The 15th hole has been pinpointed as the moment that things began to fall apart for Rory, with a strange call to go with a 7 iron seeing the ball skip over the green and leaving him scrambling for a par he would ultimately miss out on.
McIlroy's caddie Harry Diamond has been questioned in the days after the tournament, after a similarly questionable call to go with a driver on 18 which has been similarly criticised.
Tiger Woods' former coach Hank Haney has now added his voice to those critiquing McIlroy's shot selection, with the 68-year-old saying a different caddie would never have allowed McIlroy to make such questionable club choices.
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Hank Haney throws caddie dig at Rory McIlroy after US Open final round
Hank Haney spoke on his podcast in the aftermath of the US Open and analysed the moment where things began to go awry for Rory McIlroy on his quest for the 15th major.
Haney spent six years as Tiger Woods' coach in the 2000s and oversaw six major wins for the legendary American golfer.
Assessing McIlroy's bizarre choice to go with a 7 iron off the tee at the 15th, Haney said it was a call Tiger would "never" have made, and said that it pointed to nerves as McIlroy attempted to see out his round.
Rory has made a bad decision here. The bad decision is that he's kind of in between clubs - 8 iron or 7 iron. He goes with a 7 iron.
Tiger Woods would have never done that ever, ever. Rory McIlroy can send the ball straight up in the air, just like Tiger. When you've got brickhard greens, you've got to send the ball up in the air, you've got to hit a high shot. You can't be coming with some punch shot, flighted down, less-than-full trajectory. There's no way that ball is going to stop on the green.
It's a bad decision. When you get nervous, you make bad swings and you make bad decisions.
Taking to Twitter Tuesday night, Haney doubled down on his remark and said that some blame lay with McIlroy's caddie Diamond for not intervening on the 15th tee.
He referenced Woods' former caddie Steve Williams, and said that he could "promise" Williams would never have allowed Woods to make such a mistake.
I will say this, if Steve Williams was Rory’s caddie I can promise you he would have never hit a perfect flighted 7 iron that rolled over the green on 15 into a terrible lie because he would have hit an 8 iron and sent it straight up in the air and held the green.
— Hank Haney (@HankHaney) June 18, 2024
Wrong club, wrong shot, bad plan https://t.co/3GiP1Y7wsp
— Hank Haney (@HankHaney) June 18, 2024
Nick Faldo said that the putts on 16 and 18 at the US Open would "haunt" Rory McIlroy for the rest of his life but, when he goes back to analyse where it all went wrong, it's hard to look anywhere other than the 15th hole as when it all began to go downhill at Pinehurst.
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