Rory McIlroy fell short of clinching an Olympic medal despite a stirring surge at the start of the back nine that briefly had him in a share of third at Le Golf National.
The world number three, representing Ireland for the second time at an Olympics doubled bogeyed the 15th to halt his momentum and he ultimately had to settle for a tie for fifth with Spain's Jon Rahm on 15 under.
After his round, McIlroy spoke to RTÉ Sport's Dave Kelly and confirmed that he knew the gold medal was within reach on that back nine. "I got on that run on the back nine and I thought any medal was possible then," Mcilroy said.
"When I turned I was six behind, I was 14-under-par after 11 and Jon Rahm had got to 20 so I didn't really think I had a chance at gold and then everything sort of started to happen pretty quickly then.
"I played good on the way in. That one wedge shot on 15, honestly, I hit the shot that I wanted to hit, it just didn't get it up in the air enough to have the wind carry it that extra two or three yards onto the green."
Meanwhile, Shane Lowry carded a level par final round to finish just outside the top 25.
Ultimately gold went to world number one Scottie Scheffler after the American birdied six of his final nine holes to shoot 62 and reach 19 under, pipping Great Britain's Tommy Fleetwood by a single stroke in the process.
Japan's Hideki Matsuyama took bronze one shot further back on 17 under.
McIlroy had hauled himself within striking distance ahead of Sunday's final round, sitting on 10 under after a bogey-free 66 on Saturday and was lurking with intent four shots off the overnight lead jointly held by fellow major winners Rahm and reigning Olympic champion Xander Schauffele of the United States, the latter of whom would fall far out of contention in a tie for ninth.
Fleetwood (13 under) and the duo of Denmark's Nicolai Hojgaard and Matsuyama (both 11 under) - like McIlroy, the latter missed out on a bronze model at Tokyo 2020 in his home Olympics following a play-off - were the only players between the four-time major winner and the leading two.
But the in-form USA golfer Scheffler, South Korea's Tom Kim and Thomas Detry of Belgium were also in contention, tied for sixth with McIlroy at the start of play.
Teeing off alongside Matsuyama and Hojgaard just before 12.30pm local time, the Holywood golfer started his bid for the medal podium on the front foot with birdies on one and three. But he then hit a frustrating run without picking up another shot for the remainder of the front nine with the medal places consistently three to four shots ahead.
The lack of bogeys though were an advantage in keeping within striking distance when he suddenly found a streak of red hot form as soon as he arrived on the back nine.
An excellent approach shot set up a birdie on 10 and was the first of four in a row that propelled to within a shot of the bronze medal place occupied by playing partner Hideki Matsuyama by the time he teed off at the par-five 14th, and even the 18 under lead held by Rahm and Fleetwood was reachable.
Followed by a host of Irish fans, he maintain that burgeoning form on 14, with his fifth birdie in a row to move into a tie for third alongside fellow major winner Matsuyama on 17 under.
But just as McIlroy was building a head of steam, a double bogey on 15 after finding water saw him tumble back down the order and into a tie for sixth on 15 under.
All the while, Scheffler was rising to join Fleetwood in the lead on 18 under - before another birdie put American one clear by the 18th although Fleetwood would re-join him on the summit before dropping a shot back in quick succession - while Rahm had slipped back alongside home favourite Victor Perez who would ultimately finish ahead of him in fourth on 16 under after a 63.
Pars on the 16th and 17th narrowed McIlroy's window of opportunity to strike back and an agonisingly missed birdie putt on the 18th summed up his concluding holes as he signed off with a 66.
Standing on that 15th tee knowing the tournament was right in the mix, the Holywood star was determined to stay aggressive. "I was very aware. I knew I was only one back at that point," he said.
"Even over the shot on 15, I wanted to stay aggressive. It would have been easy to hit it 30 feet long and make a par but I wanted to try to make another birdie, stay aggressive and get as much out of the round as I could and it didn’t quite happen. But I was aware of what I needed to do, for sure."
Despite his disappointment, McIlroy appears to have relished his involvement with Team Ireland and made a point of acknowledging how significant a star-studded leaderboard on the final day of the golf event will be in promoting the game as a bonafide Olympic discipline.
"It’s been amazing. These Games have felt an awful lot different to the ones I was involved in in Tokyo, because of covid," McIlroy said. "There’s just been a great feeling around these Games, particularly within the Irish camp and in this golf tournament.
"Golf in the Olympics needed this. It’s been an incredible week, an incredible experience and with the Irish team there’s still medals to play for and I’m looking forward to watching that."
Meanwhile, as far back as Friday, Lowry had said he had resigned himself to "playing for pride", with any medal hopes wafer thin, but started Sunday from a solid tie for 23rd on five under.
Lowry endured a frustrating day with a bogey on the par-4 first, although birdies on six, 10, 11 and 13 saw him rebound effectively. But bogeys on 16 and 18 saw him finish level par for the day and on five under overall.
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